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Show Merry-Go-Round By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT 8. ALLEN WASHINGTON Discussing the presidential presiden-tial outlook with seversl friends before his death, ' Senator William E. Borah remarked: "I have no idea who the candidates will be, but I have no hesitancy in making one prediction, Mrs. Roosevelt Roose-velt will be a very Important factor in the electionand elec-tionand the Republican party doesn't want to forget it" He was right The campaign battle is still months off, but already the first lady has become be-come a major problem to at least one G. O. P. candidate. It's a Taft camp secret, but at the moment Mrs. Roosevelt Is the subject of more inner discussion dis-cussion of strategy among them than her husband, hus-band, the president The resson for this is as extraordinary as the lsdy herself. Possessor of the real political "It" In the Taft family is not the senator, but his wife, Martha. She is a genuine vote-getter. Mrs. Tsft played a very decisive role in her husband's senatorial victory in 1938, and she hsa been a trump card in his presidential drive. She has been aptly described as her husband's hus-band's greatest political asset Also, and in- . evitably, as Mrs. Roosevelt's only rival This is exactly where the rub cornea in, and . the reason why the first lady has become a major ma-jor problem to the Taft camp. The senstor has decided that it is unwise campaign strategy to let his talented wife become fixed In the minds of the voters as another Eleanor Roosevelt Ne Eleanor Stuff The most uncomDromising anti new dealer among the leading Republican candidates. Tsft is convinced that the country is weary of Roose-veltian Roose-veltian glitter and is hungering for simple, homey folks In the White House. So, disregsrding the fact that his wife is one of the very best csmpaigners and has been an invaluable aid in his spectacular rise to political .eminence, he has personally, and emphatically, issued a ukase to his headquarters: "Soft-pedal -the 'Eleanor stuff." This does not mean that Tsft's Martha Is to be pushed in the background or silenced. Not at all. She will continue to be as active as before, but not In the same role as Roosevelt's Roose-velt's Eleanor. No longer are they to be billed as "Bob and Martha." Hereafter she will be listed as "Mrs. Taft" And her speeches will be straight campaign cam-paign talks. The feminine personality angle, to which Mrs. Taft lends herself so effectively, is td be eliminsted. Dave Ingalls. Tsft's cousin and manager, has heartily agreed with him about this, but others, including Mrs. Tsft have not Privately, she was slightly piqued, but being a good soldier and a good sport, she readily conceded con-ceded that her husband was the boss and promised prom-ised to campaign along the lines he laid down as best she could. Oh, Yeah? Forrest Davis, crack newsman recently employed em-ployed as publicity director, argued vigorously against this policy, but when he got nowhere, sighed deeply and shrugged his shoulders. It was interesting to note, however, that shortly thereafter, despite Tsft's orders, the advance press release sent out by Davis on the Tsfts' campaign tour through Illinois and Minnesota began aa follows: The campaign team of 'Bob and Martha' . . ." Apparently Davis quietly used his own Judgment where he thought it was better bet-ter than his boss's. And so did the newspapers. Tsft's efforts to prevail upon them to follow his "no Eleanor stuff" theories hsve so fsr been unavailing. A leading midwestern Republican paper notified noti-fied the Taft headquarters that it was sending one of its women writers to accompany Mrs. Tsft on her trip through Minnesota, her home state. Ingalls hit the ceiling and rushed Davis post-haste to see the managing editor, an old personal friend. , Davis pleaded with him to assign a male political po-litical reporter to cover the story as regulsr politics) po-litics) news The managing editor laughed. "Forrest" he said, "you know yourself that Mrs. Taft is great feature news. A wife campaigning cam-paigning for her husband is bigger news than an ordinary campaigner for a candidate. And especially es-pecially when the wife was largely responsible for putting the husband in line for the presidency. presi-dency. She's greet woman copy. "I dont care what Taft thinks; his wife is a ' woman and a great personality in her own right You know that as well as I do, and if you weren't on the Taft payroll you would admit it We are going to send a woman to cover Mrs. - Taft and cover ner as Martha Taft, as herself. That's all there's to it" And it was. The woman writer accompanied Mrs. Taft and played her up as a woman and not as a political campaigner. Distributed by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. . i - |