The Daily Record

Big GOP Vote
Is Predicted
By RALPH HOWLAND
In The Charlotte Observer

RALEIGH Everett Jordan's Democratic caravan has finished its visit to each of the State's 12 congressional districts. The chairman of the North Carolina party's executive committee also managed to attend a goodly number of lesser rallies during his month of touring. His net conclusion: this state will give a substantial majority to all the Democratic candidates for major office.

But before anyone could swallow such a conclusion, he'd have to season it with a healthy sprinkling of salt. For that was the politician talking, not the ordinary observer. Not that Jordan would necessarily tell a fib about anything, for he is an honorable gentleman.

It has just become the accepted thing for a politician to take liberties with the truth, to issue optimistic statements, and to shake the confidence of the opposition with all manner of means.

Jordan, like all of those on his staff and the newspapermen who accompanied him, is so stuffed with party oratory that's he's liable to explode if he hears once more

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GOP Vote
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about the "great accomplishments of this glorious Democratic party."

He and members of the Council of State have sat on so many platforms and listened to the hymns for so long that they are adept at appearing interested though their minds be on subjects far afield.

Their applause became mechanical, sparked by some fervent subject often seated in partly-filled rooms.

NOT HYPNOTIZED

All they heard on the platforms was party praise and denunciation of the opposition. Repetition, one knows, is the basis of hypnotism.

If they were not practical fellows one could say that they had fallen into such a mental condition unable to see the woods for the trees or vice versa.

But Jordan and his advisors have been in the game too long to let such oratory convince them that the election is in the bag even in the 10th congressional district where all the Democrats seem to be afraid of Ham Jones' chances except Jones himself.

Jordan's statement of substantial victory is written for public digestion. It is probable that he really believes no such thing, and it is a surety that none of the highest Democrats in North Carolina are of the opinion that the margin will be comparatively slim.

Though the issues were different this election stacks up fairly well with 1928, when North Carolina went Republican nationally, sent two GOP men to Congress. It was that year, too, that O. Max Gardner, beloved of the Democratic party, was able to win the governor's chair by only 70,000 votes. His opponent was the father of Herbert F. Seawell, the present Republican nominee for governor. One of the Republican U. S. representatives was Charles A. Jonas, father of the fellow who is giving Jones so much trouble in the 10th. There is an excellent chance that history will repeat a similar chapter.

HEAVY VOTE FOR IKE

It seems a certainty that Dwight Eisenhower will get a heavy vote in North Carolina, though his opponents say his defeat will become more pronounced as the vote may reach a record of one million, although only twice has it gone over 800,000.

It is inevitable that as Eisenhower's vote grows, so will that of William B. Umstead, Democratic nominee for governor, diminish. That is just what happened to Gardner. Many persons who have decided to vote for Eisenhower will hastily mark an "X" beside that of Seawell. For the national issues must be reflected in the State.

Umstead knows that and no other Democratic nominee for governor in modern days has so tenaciously retained the thought that he isn't assured of being governor until the general election ballots are counted. That is due principally to his legal awareness of the technical truth, and to his recognition of the Republican threat.

This hasn't been a normal campaign in North Carolina; far from it. It is a vital part of a political evolution that is sweeping the country. More and more it is becoming evident that one of these years, the people are going to have a Republican administration in Raleigh. If the left-wingers in the Democratic party continue their pressure tactics and their insults to the South it may come very soon.

Many wavering Democrats recognize that and, oddly enough in a way, they don't seem to be too worried about it. Perhaps, deep in their hearts, they would relish it.