OCR Text |
Show eltind the Headlined ; leaves the country next month : to attend the summit conference with Russia, visit the Soviets and then take a lengthy vacation. All this has led to a political vacuum into whcih Rockefeller is jumping. For throughout the country, worried, far from optimistic opti-mistic Republican leaders are now looking to such popular and effective GOP orators as conservative con-servative Senator Barry Gold-water Gold-water and liberal Republican Governor Rockefeller to breathe some new enthusiasm into their party organizations, especially in advance of their primary elections. elec-tions. In the next few months we will hear strong Rockefeller speeches from such key areas as Chicago, Philadelphia and the west coast. Politicians will be watching Rockefeller activity more closely in three other sensitive political areas as a guide to his actual vote getting power outside New York State, which he has yet to prove. The pre-convention vitality of the Democratic party, the rigors of its presidential candidates, . their publicity, and the votes tallied in the New Hampshire and Wisconsin primaries force the GOP to suffer by comparison. compari-son. Vice President Nixon in particular par-ticular is coming under increased criticism from every quarter of his party for comparative inactivity, inac-tivity, which skeptics fear could lead to party apathy and defeat in November: On the right, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona is waging a vigorous drive to force Nixon into more active campaigning now. But the really big Republican Republi-can "show" is just beginning with the re-entry of multi-millionaire Governor Nelson Rockefeller Rocke-feller of New York into more active speculation as a Republican Republi-can presidential nominee . Rockefeller's apparent with-drawl with-drawl from active competition for the GOP presidential nomination nomi-nation last Christmas was contingent con-tingent on demands on his time by the New York state legislative legisla-tive session. The legislature has since adjourned, leaving ever-active ever-active Rockefeller with more time on his hands than he knows what to do with. Most of the country elects U.S. ! Senators and Congressmen in November, along with a Presi-1 Presi-1 dent and Vice President. But in North Dakota and in six Congressional Con-gressional districts, death has created vacancies in the Senate and House. Three House vacancies vacan-cies in Ohio, Washington State and Illinois will remain vacant until November. Nomination of Democrat David Hall is tantamount tanta-mount to election to a vacancy in North Carolina's 12 Congressional Congression-al district in the May 28 state primary. In North Dakota the remaining four years of the late Senator William Langer's Senate seat is to be decided in an actual election, elec-tion, not just a nominating primary pri-mary on June 28. Democrats are making a strong bid for this and ; two House vacancies in Pennsylvania's Penn-sylvania's 17th and 18th Congres- ( sional districts. GOP leaders in North. Dakota , and Pennsylvania have pleaded for aid in keeping their vacant seats in the GOP column. Nixon busy, feared he would be blamed Now this columnist, who first predicted the intense Rockefeller-Nixon rvialry in 1958, can report that Rockefeller is looking look-ing forward to launching one of the most vigorous "non campaigns" cam-paigns" the country has ever - seen. While still remaining officially offi-cially a non-contender he intends to speak out more on domestic i and foreign issues in more areas of the nation, with greater vigor and publicity than ever. Rockefeller's backers and advisors ad-visors are agreed that they can not break Nixon's hold on most state GOP organizations and his present commanding lead in con-1 vention delegates. it me uvr lost these three special spe-cial elections, the only special Congressional elections scheduled, sched-uled, on the eve of the conventions conven-tions and before November. Rockefeller agreed from the first to campaign actively in North Dakota for Gov. John Davis against Democratic Rep. Quentin Burdick for the Senator Sena-tor Langer's seat. Rockefeller will lay his much touted vote getting ability on the line in Pennsylvania's two special spe-cial elections. He will concentrate, concen-trate, however, on the 17th district, dis-trict, where Democrat Dean L. Fisher is battling the Republican Republi-can Herman Schneebeli, an oil dealer and Rockefeller's former college roommate. "As Maine goes, so goes the nation" no longer applies, since Maine no longer holds pre-No-vember elections. But these special spe-cial elections are now being observed ob-served by Democrats and Republicans Repub-licans as possible straws in the wind to the November election trend. But they are convinced that they can make a great last effort to sweep the Republican party off its feet by arousing the public pub-lic in Rockefeller's behalf outside out-side trie party organization. The tactic under consideration by Rockefeller's still large campaign staff is similar to the "Blitz" that gave Willikie the 1940 GOP nomination, although he was unknown un-known three months before the convention. Vice President Nixon has been under great pressure to step up the tempo of his own pre-convention campaigning. Fellow Republicans Re-publicans fear the keen Democratic Demo-cratic rivalry- contrasts greatly with the lackluster no-contest atmosphere threatening to mark the GOP convention. Nixon has sought, since he has thus far had no opposition in his party to save his strength until after the GOP convention for a "Blitz" of his own against the Democrats. He believes in careful pre-campaign party organization or-ganization and a short, active, hard htiting campaign beginning just before Labor Day and is convinced the public will tire of too much pre-convention politicking. poli-ticking. Nixon is emphasizing a sober performance of his official duties but instead he has suffered, even if only temporarily, in most public pub-lic opinion polls by contrast to the more active Kennedy-Humphrey-Symington rivalry. This has produced new talk that Nixon Nix-on "can't win." Moreover, Nixon, busy in the capital presidng over the deadlocked dead-locked Senate will become even busier as President Eisenhower |