ustxtxb_obs_1967_12_22_50_00004-00000_000.pdf

dency if it meant responding to a draft conducted by the people of his native state. “I can hardly picture Lyndon Johnson responding to a draft like some of these draft dodgers,” Day says. “I have no axe to grind,” the young man goes on, “this is just my responsibility as a citizen, inspired by Lyndon Johnson’s handling of the presidency. I have as the motto of this movement ‘Nothing is too good for Texas’.” Day urges those interested in his idea to write him care of: Draft Johnson for Governor, PO Box 8123, Austin, Tex. 78712. “I only want to hear from positiveminded people,” he says. “I don’t want ‘aginners’; I have very little time for negative people.” fl The Connallycrats Back and Fill V Gov. John Connally’s supporters are now mincing words about the gov ernor’s announcement last month when he said he would not run for a fourth term. Connallycrats, who have been un successful in turning up a candidate who holds much promise, are pointing out now that Connally said “I . . . do not intend to be a candidate for reelection as governor of Texas.” The key word is “intend”; Connally didn’t say he wouldn’t run, followers of the state political scene are now being told. But if he didn’t mean by his statement to step aside from a fourth term, what did the governor mean? Whether Connally himself is actually reconsidering, or is merely being urged to reconsider, was unclear as this issue of the Observer was being closed. However, he told newsmen last week that he would not make a “William Tecumseh Sherman-type statement” about not running; that is, Connally would not say that he wouldn’t run if nominated and wouldn’t serve if elected. It thus seems possible that Connally is reconsidering his decision, particularly in view of the prospect of being succeeded by either US Sen. Ralph Yarborough Smith, Waggoner Carr, or Secy. of State John Hill. None of these most likely gubernatorial candidates pleases Connally; the failure of the Connallycrats to recruit a candidate such as Dolph Briscoe, Frank Ikard, or Joe Kilgore may mean that the governor will make the fourth term run. If so, his Nov. 10 statement of withdrawal doubtless will be quoted against him as an instance of a Connally credibility gap. V The governor took a few jibes from Capitol newsmen earlier this month for what many Austin newsmen’ regarded as a credibility gaposis on several other counts. Connally said at an Austin news conference, prior to leaving for Washing ton and Europe, that he simply would not be the man to replace Secy. of Defense Robert McNamara. A few hours later in Washington Connally was quoted as say ing of the defense job, It would be dif ficult to turn down if it were offered.” Several of the more influential of the Austin press corps wrote columns jump ing on the governor about his seeming 4 The Texas Observer lack of candor. Connally, returned to Austin, explained that he had been quoted out of context in Washington. He added that he had made the remark that the defense job would be hard to turn down because, he said, he was pressured to make such a statement under persistent questioning of one reporter on this point. There have been a few less significant instances of a credibility problem for ‘Connally with the Texas newsmen lately, a rare phenomenon for the governor, who has had excellent press relations. LBJ and Ralph Until the recent backing and filling was begun about whether Connally really is out of the race, evidence, largely of the fragmentary and speculative variety, was growing that Senator Yarborough would run for governor next year, and, .moreover, would do so with the tacit or possibly the expressed, sotto voce approval of President Johnson. Several national newsmen and columnists are convinced that the senator will make the race with at least the private blessing of LBJ. Lending some support to this view is the fact that Ed Clark, Johnson’s ambassador to Australia, a man very close to Johnson, is reported urging Yarborough to run. Further, some members of the White House staff are represented as convinced that the senator will make the race. Complementary to this notion is the trickle of speculation that Johnson actually didn’t want Connally on the ticket next year in Texas. Veteran Houston Chronicle reporter Bo Byers writes that “several sources have confirmed to this reporter that Mr. Johnson told Connally, in roughly these words: ‘John, I know you’re tired of being governor. If you want to quit and go back to your ranch, that’s all right`.” One leading Texas liberal tells the Observer he’s heard it “almost from the horse’s mouth” that Johnson wants and needs Yarborough to run so Johnson can carry Texas in 1968the idea being that the senator could, better than anyone else, attract the growing Negro and Mexican-American vote for the Democrats. Connally, on the other hand, could not expect very much support in mexicano precincts and his strength among Negroes is diminished. All these considerations would make the Connally withdrawal from Texas politics more understandable. V One further sign in support of the idea that LBJ may back Ralph on the ticket next year is the report that until recently Texas AFL-CIO president Hank Brown was dead set against the senator running next year; but that, recently, Brown is reconsidering, particularly since Connally’s apparent withdrawal. The question: would Brown go along with labor’s unquestioning support of Johnson, particularly on the vital Vietnam question, without trying to get something in return? Brown is known as a hard, bargainer; perhaps his militance at Galveston \(Obs., labor hitched to Johnson and the US war policy can be understood, partly, as his side of a bargain the other side being that Johnson will do what he can to put the senator into the Austin statehouse. This last part, about Texas labor and 1968, is speculative, but interesting and somewhat plausible. V The president and the senator are believed to be on the best terms since Johnson entered the White House. Personally and ideologically the men have their differences, but they have united before when political considerations have made such a union practical, as in 1964, when Johnson kept Yarborough from facing a serious primary challenge, thereby enhancing LBJ’s national liberal image, which the president then was cultivating. Other 1968 Notes Ambassador Clark of Australia and Deputy Ambassador Eugene Locke of South Vietnam are still being considered as likely prospects for the governor’s race. V Republicans are still leaning toward Cong. George Bush, but if Connally gets back in, the GOP will likely revert back to its former position of running a token candidate. goof Columnist Drew Pearson reports that LBJ had told some intimates, includ ing Secy. of State Dean Rusk, that he def initely did not intend to run for reelection next year. But that, Pearson says, was be fore the Eugene McCarthy campaign. 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