The Nome Nugget

Will Test Political Barometer At Polls Tomorrow

(By The Associated Press)

Alaskans will vote Tuesday in a general election that will test their new political adage, "As Alaska goes, so goes the nation."

The Territory's political leaders have been contending in recent years that Alaska has usurped the role of Maine in the old political axiom. They cite some convincing evidence to support the claim.

The Territory voted Democratic throughout the New Deal era; it added Republicans to the Legislature in 1946 and the country elected the Republican 80th Congress two weeks later; it swung strongly Democratic in 1948, when a Republican national victory was generally predicted for the nation; and two weeks later President Truman and the Democratic ticket won nationally; the Republicans picked up strength in the Legislature in the 1950 election, but not enough to get a majority, and the congressional elections followed the pattern in the states.

Actually, it is puzzling to try to understand why it should be a barometer. The rough-and-ready politics of the Territory are criss-crossed with personalities and feuds.