Show voli political pros y will oppose stassen St cassera former minnesota governor Is pla playing Y ng lone wolf role by BAUKHAGE news analyst anil and commentator this is the third of a series on the men most moss talked about as candidates for the lh republican presidential nomination washington when the bakers were down in washington sweating out a grain conservation program for their industry my friend from minnesota harry W who is what the personal column calls a frequent visitor in the capital gave a little luncheon for his colleagues and some press and radio men we had finished eating and were gathered around to listen to the bakers troubles when suddenly the door opened and pounds of blond smiling political potentiality burst upon us our host shouted a happy hello harold then turned and announced noun ced iced gentlemen the next president of oe he united states I 1 daresay roost most minnesota republicans will say aye to that what the rest ot of the country says is awaited with interest by the candidate I 1 suppose I 1 have had 50 people e ask me about harold stassen why stassen a chance they query most observers observer 3 seem to agree that if he be has at a chance its a pretty slim one to date the reason Is a always the same the professional politicians dont want him not because hes a political unknown unk mown he could hardly be called that sure he took the job ot of county chairman at the age of 21 he was elected governor of M min in desota t three h r e e baukhage times could have been senator from that state had he wanted the job in his case its not so much that hes bes a newcomer as it is the way he came up that way Is characteristic of his whole campaign and two words describe it lone wolf the ile situation favored stassen St ascii when he forced his bis way into the lh gubernatorial race in 19 1938 8 minnesota was in a bad way there was vandalism and corruption I 1 and the farmer labor party which had bad held a stiff grip on the state was disintegrating through its own weakness and graft stassen entered the race against the wishes of the republican old guard but he eventually forced them to help him to some degree it was largely his own efforts however that elected him in other words he butted into the governorship according to old guard critics others say he did it merely as a step to the presidency I 1 and that it was part of his overweening ambition the same thing they say about governor dewey of new york but the old guard tears fears type of ambition more than deweys deleys De they tear fear it because they feel that should stassen be early this year according to rt edible authority a secret poll was taken by republican senators as to their informal off the record preference tor for a presidential candidate sen arthur hend henra ick of michigan won it in the same month the senator made a statement in a national magazine in which he said he thought it was easier to run tor for president than not to run he ex how biffl cult it was to deny that one is a candi cand date once the story got started he mentioned the question of the draft draff and expressed an opinion similar to that of roy roberts Vaen bere of the kansas city star in connection with gen dwight eisenhower Elsen hower namely that there had never been a real draft in his day said that of course no man would refuse the nomination if it were handed to him as an accomplished fact lie ile concluded his remarks with this statement 1 I 1 am not a candidate I 1 do not expect or to be a candidate I 1 shall seek no convention delegates or approve of others in ID this behalf I 1 think my place of service is filling out my tenure in the senate few mens stature has increased as Vanden bergs has as a result 0 of his participation in international affairs I 1 think it Is tail fair to say that not only made nonpartisan foreign policy possible but that his efforts in carrying out the nonpartisan non partisan principle made a unified foreign policy poll cy itself possible A part of Vanden bergs influence in the field of foreign n affairs Is due to the fact act that he has th the e enthusiasm of a con come president he might build up a strong personal following and thus get a stranglehold strangle hold on the republican party conventional candidates dont commit themselves too heavily his supporters claim that stassen is I 1 a middle of the a little to the th left but it is not too much his uber liber 4 46 V HAROLD STASSEN does he have a chance aliby to which the politicians object I 1 doubt if any practical politician expects us to turn back the clock but in his highly unorthodox campaigning pai gning stassen has violated two rules one by announcing himself early in the present campaign today he is the only official candidate for the presidential nomination two he be has made and he repeats sharp criticism of the republican program As roscoe drummond of the christian science monitor puts it if they pick him to ride the elephant have to get a new elephant certainly stassen has hinted this was necessary when he said the republican program must be more constructive more dynamic he consult with an anybody Y else when he announces how to make it so part of the lonewolf complex he comes up from the soil with a dirt farmer father he worked his way through college he has a good military record as deputy chief of staff to admiral halsey he Is younger than dewey stassen is 39 and taller than taft a sandy haired slow spoken and deliberate six footer A wont fight vert ile he was once frankly an isolationist today he has converted many others and I 1 believe that no single man has done more than he be to break down the provincial attitude especially in the Midd lewest which before world war 11 II prevented america from taking leadership in world affairs leadership which might have postponed it if not entirely prevented the war I 1 do not believe that he is actually eliminated from the nomination but we can be certain he will not fight tor for the job he had the high vote at the republican convention of 1940 when the willkie blitz struck Vanden bergs support of bip bi p arti san policy mean that he gives a blank check to the administration tra tion he favors acors the marshall plan and aid to greece and turkey but he refused to recognize that aid as the truman doctrine insisting it was not a doctrine at all |