The Goat Vote

George Wallace, the demi-demagogue from Alabama, two-stepped through his first Northern tour of the current political season proclaiming: "Right now the only one who satisfies me is me." From Syracuse to Pittsburgh to Cleveland to Terre Haute last week, he called the roll of evils he is against: big government, Communism, crime, the Supreme Court, federal civil rights legislation and "intellectual morons," an apparently large group of citizens that seems to include professors, liberals, editors, beatniks, Vietniks, and anyone else who finds Wallace odious and is either a college graduate or would allow his daughter to marry one.

Even a candidate under a neo-know-nothing banner must be positively for something as well. Wallace showered his encomiums on God, states' rights, victory in Viet Nam and, of course, himself. He will probably run for President on a third-party ticket, he said, because all the other potential candidates are too liberal. The promises of conventional conservatives to protect state and local governments from the bogeymen in Washington will not do, Wallace insisted. Said he: "They've got to put the hay down where the goats can get at it."

Just how many goats Wallace might attract next year is uncertain, although the Gallup poll last week found him pulling surprisingly large support--between 12% and 13% in three-way races with Lyndon Johnson as the Democrat and either George Romney or Richard Nixon as the Republican. In both cases, Wallace hurt the Republicans rather than Johnson.

For the moment, Wallace's strategy is to make headline-grabbing forays. In this he had a successful trip, not because of what he was saying but because everywhere that George went pickets and hecklers were sure to assemble in large, loud numbers. At Syracuse University, he was even burned in effigy the night before he spoke. That, he allowed, was just the kind of "status symbol" he appreciated.

In Pittsburgh, where the Amen Corner--an organization of business and professional men--gave him a cordial reception, three local John Birch Society members announced formation of a Wallace-for-President group. Wallace said he welcomed their support because the Birchers he knew in Alabama were fine folks and stout antiCommunists.

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