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Show Democratic Pros Turn Attention To Candidates for 1960 Race Democratic attention this week turned to the presidential nomination. nomi-nation. And as party, professionals mulled possible candidates the name of Sen. Lyndon Johnson of Texas loomed large in their discussions. dis-cussions. The New York Times reported that the party "pros" are definitely defi-nitely keeping the Texas senator in mind. According to the Times these veteran politicians reason that the Democratic national convention conven-tion in Los Angeles likely will end in a stalemate. They feel that only Sen. John Kennedy of Massachusetts Mas-sachusetts by a series of flashy victories in the various presidential presiden-tial primaries, can run away in the convention. They predict that no candidate is ikely to have more than 300 votes less than half the amount required for nomination on the first ballot. As the balloting goes on without with-out noticeable change, the pros feel that Adlai Stevenson, the twice defeated candidate; Sen. Stuart Symington of Missouri, the vocal administration critic, and former Air Force secretary, and Sen. Johnson will emerge as definite compromise candidates. candi-dates. It is in this role that Senator Johnson becomes a giant. It has been felt that northern liberals in the Democratic party would not stand still for a man like Johnson, who favors a moderate mod-erate civil rights program. But the senator from Texas has many things in his favor which endear him to the northern Democrats. Chief among these is the way he has used his authority as majority major-ity leader in the Senate to further fur-ther legislation for urban development, de-velopment, new airports, new roads and public housing, things dear to the hearts of politicians from large population areas. These people will be watching Sen. Johnson closely in the current cur-rent session of Congress to see what he does about civil rights legislation. So far indications are the party professionals feel less strongly than do liberal Democrats in the Senate about Johnson's moderate stand. Another factor which enhances Sen. Johnson,' the Times points out, is his admitted ability in down to earth politics. This is something the men in the "smoky rooms" will be able to appreciate appreci-ate when they gather to pick a compromise candidate in Los Angeles. It was noted that old time politicians poli-ticians feel Sen. Johnson is the kind of politician who can under stand another politician's problems. prob-lems. These same pros feel that Sen. Johnson is a tough negotiator negotia-tor who could deal with the communists in negotiations involving in-volving world peace. |