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Show against him. Rockefeller is also handicapped by his divorce issue and feuding within the New York GOP, his alienation of New York States big cities by the conservative posture he is taking tak-ing to woo Republican conservatives, conserva-tives, and by the fact that much of his newness as a politician is waning. Former Vice President Nixon will inevitably become a possible "draft" candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 1964 if he wins the California gover-ship, gover-ship, even though he intends to serve out a term in Sacramento, should he be elected. He would of course, probably be washed up as a presidential contender if defeated by California's Democratic Demo-cratic Gov. Brown. The speculation surrounding Automaker George Romney's political po-litical fortunes, has already aided aid-ed the GOP party in Michigan. It became clear a year ago, that if Romney should win the Michigan Michi-gan governorship, he would become be-come the country's leading GOP and strongest presidential con- - - Washington, which only a few short months ago, was dominated by Khrushchev, Mao, Castro, the Congo, the Berlin crisis and nuclear nu-clear testing, is now being overwhelmed over-whelmed by politics. It is inevitable, of course, with the return of Congress in a congressional election year, that virtually every development domestically do-mestically and in the world at large, should be put into a political po-litical context. This is proving especially true this year, since both Republicans and Democrats know, after the 1960 razor close presidential election, that Congress, issues and its election in . November, probably holds the key to the presidency in 1964. The Republicans, who somehow, some-how, seemed to have forgotten during our 1961 rash of global crises, that President Kennedy was at heart a shrewd politician, are being caught by surprise by the raw political implications of his legislative program. Whatever else the merits of his proposed new Cabinet post of Urban Afairs may be, the President Presi-dent has shown that he remembers remem-bers that the nation's big cities are a key to the Presidency. President Kennedy, by placing unexpected stress on civil rights and the appointment of Negro Dr. Robert Weaver to the Urban Affairs Cabinet post, is showing the political importance he attaches at-taches to the nation's racial minorities. tender. The contest for the governorship governor-ship in Pennsylvania is of special spe-cial importance for obvious reasons. rea-sons. While Democrats appeared likely to nominate Philadelphia reform Mayor Richardson Dil-worth, Dil-worth, Republicans were divided with fund raisers refusing to raise campaign contributions for party organization candidates Jl J . . 1-1 T- and former Governor Fine Pennsylvania's Penn-sylvania's last Republican governor, gov-ernor, standing trial for federal income tax evasion. The outcome of the Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania is of special significance in another context. Former President Eisenhower has taken an active leadership of the GOP in his adopted Pennsylvania. His already waning influence on the course of the Republican party nationally would suffer a severe setback if the Pennsylvania GOP suffers another defeat. The election of a governor in Texas has also attracted nation wide attention, following Gen. Edwin Walker's entry into the race for the Democratic nomination nomina-tion for Governor. The ultra-conservative, ultra-conservative, anti - Communist General's chief foe is former Kennedy Secretary of the Navy, John Connally. The President would suffer a severe defeat if his man loses, especially to Gen. Walker, who resigned under i iJ ls J-i. The President is staking out strong claims in his legislative program for championing the aged, the millions on relief, government gov-ernment workers, college age youths who are being offered the hope of federal scholarships. The balance of power groups in our cities could hold the key to the congressional and presidential elections. Republicans have proclaimed, in an elaborate, overdue analysis of their 1960 presidential election elec-tion defeat, that they now realize that they lost the Presidency by failing to carry the nation's large cities. Yet, it is the Democrats and President Kennedy who are doing do-ing most to hold on to the vote that did the most to put them into the White House and which is a traditional base of Democratic Demo-cratic strength. Some 20 key cities dominate the 10 large electoral vote states that hold the key to the Presidency. Presi-dency. Democrats know that the aged, union members, government govern-ment workers, Negroes, school teachers, the unemployed, and other relief recipients hold the balance of power in each of the big vote cities and champion the cause. The tougher attitude that the President is taking toward the farm problem reflects the Kennedy Ken-nedy political strategy of favoring favor-ing big city voters over the de-clinging de-clinging rural electorate. Complicating the neat Kennedy Ken-nedy Big City x Strategy, though, is the major grab Republicans will be making this year for all the big vote states. The party controlling New York, California, 'Pennsylvania. Michigan and Texas will have gone a long way toward controlling control-ling the electoral college vote for the Presidency in 1964. Each of the contests has a political significance sig-nificance far beyond each of the states themselves. In New York, the nation's only Republican governor, Nelson E. Rockefeller, will be running for election. Democrats are handicapped handi-capped by their failure to agree 1 on a strong candidate to run pressure ior ms anu-iummuiusi views. A Walker victory could lead to formation of a , major Southern conservative coalition against the administration. Massachusetts, which already has a Republican overnor, elects a U. S. Senator this year. At issue is control of the state by the Kennedy Democrats, led by the President's younger brother Ted, by conservative McCormack forces or by Republican George Lodge, son of Henry C. Lodge. No one should complain that this is a dull political election year. |