ustxtxb_obs_1968_02_16_50_00004-00000_000.pdf

our creditors indicated they will go along with me.” One reporter asked, “Can we say that your creditors are in favor of your running?” Yarborough laughed and replied, “Don’t go that far, buddy! Let me say this, I have spoken to my creditors. I do anticipate that we’ll have some fine financial support.” gof Yarborough’s ten opponents in the Demo primary are Preston Smith, Dolph Briscoe, Gordon McLendon, Eugene Locke, Waggoner Carr, Pat O’Daniel, John L. Hill, Edward L. Whittenberg, Alfonso Veloz, and Johnnie Mae Hackworthe. ,g McLendon was thinking of dropping out of the race earlier this week, as the Observer was being closed. He had counted on having an edge on other conservatives in the race if Ralph Yarborough had made the race, because of his, McLendon’s, slashing campaign against the senator in 1964. 100 Perhaps indicative of the closeness, behind the scenes, of the Don Yarborough campaign and Sen. Yarborough is the fact that DY has rented Austin PO Box 1000 as his mailing address, the same address the senator used in his last campaign, in 1964. 1,0 The eleven Democrats and three Re publicans seeking the governorship make up the biggest field since 1946, when 14 Democrats sought the state’s top job. Lockers Problems v Locke, inheritor of what remains of the organization of Gov. John Connally, has his worries, largely in terms of name identification among voters and in bitterness now felt by Hill and Hill supporters. When Hill was brought into Austin from an important law practice in Houston, Connally appointing him secretary of state, it was concluded by Austin leaders that Hill was being groomed for high office. He was “going into the pipe,” out of which the Establishment’s candidates come. Hill was upset when Locke was chosen by Connally campaign leaders to make the race for them. Hill reportedly stalked out of the decisive meeting in January at Connally’s ranch. A poll taken of the seven then-announced candidates prior to the filing deadline showed Carr first, McLendon second, and Smith third, all bunched closely. Following were, in order, Briscoe, O’Daniel, Hill, and Locke. Locke showed only a trace on the poll, indicating he is not well-known statewide. Transferring the Connally mantle to Locke, therefore, will take vast sums of money and TV exposure, perhaps an impossible amount. A sapient big business lobbyist who has been around Austin politics a long time gives this size-up: “People don’t realize it, but I think Preston Smith is pretty far ahead. He has been working awfully hard and has a good head start. Whether he’ll stay ahead is of course a question. But this is what he has been doing: He has been 4 The Texas Observer going all over the state, asking people to be for him. He is a nice fellow, he has a pleasing personality. When someone would say, ‘Preston, I’d like to be for you, but I’m committed to Connally,’ he didn’t let that faze him at all. He just got a commitment from them when he could that he would be their second choice. Then, when Connally cleared out, he had their commitment.” fro Most likely the runoff will pit Yarborough against one of three men, Smith, Locke, or Carr. The Republicans V The Republicans have three men in the governor’s race, Paul Eggers of Wichita Falls, Wallace Sisk of Houston, and John Trice of Dallas. Eggers is the chosen candidate of the state GOP organization, a fact that almost brought Jack Cox into the race. Cox ran a good race in the fall of 1962 against Connally. He was urged by some state Republican leaders to get back in this year, partly in protest of Eggers’ being annointed by GOP chairman Peter O’Donnell. Cox declined to make the race as it appeared enough money for the campaign could not be raised. O’Donnell has written Trice that he doesn’t believe he, Trice, can win because of his being a law partner of Horace Houston in Dallas. Houston went against the wishes of Dallas GOP precinct leaders last year in running against Ike Harris to replace the late State Sen. George Parkhouse. The precinct leaders had selected Harris, who won the special election handily, as the only Republican entrant. All other Republicans were supposed to honor that choice, but Houston did not feel candidates should be selected arbitrarily. O’Donnell hasn’t stated any opinions as to Sisk’s chances. The state’s top Republican party leaders, most of them, are of the opinion that money should not be wasted on contested primary campaigns, feeling further that bitterness could ensue from contests. Eggers is likely to win the GOP nomination but is not likely to win in November, even though he will receive the support of large blocs of Democrats whose candidates lose in the Demo gubernatorial primary. The Republicans are generally thought to have passed up a good chance of winning the governor’s seat this year, though the identity of the GOP presidential nominee would be crucial in that. If it’s Rockefeller, for instance, a serious Republican gubernatorial nominee’s chances would have about doubled against a conservative Democratic nominee. On the other hand, while it would stand to reason in an off-year November that a Texas Republican might beat Don Yarborough for governor, this year, a national GOP nominee like Nixon or someone to the right of him, combined with Johnson’s desperate need for the minority vote, would very much improve Don Yarborough’s chances. One by one the top potential GOP candidates have dropped outCong. George Bush, Dallas Mayor Erik John son, national committeeman Albert Fay. Former Attorney General Will Wilson, about five months ago, told the state’s Republican leaders that he did not want to run for governor but added that he did not think they ought to let the governorship got by default in 1968. Thus, they could carry him along as a spare tire in case they couldn’t find another suitable candidate. In that case, and if there wasn’t any serious sniping at him from the rear within the Republican party, he would run. Wilson has been enjoying being a private citizen; as for high office, he has been there, and he realizes that whether you’re governor or not, after Monday comes there’s going to be a Tuesday, a Wednesday, a Thursday. In the end, Wilson did not file, though he certainly would have run better than either of the three men now in the race for the Republicans. V Martin A. Wiginton, 35-year-old Austin and state liberal leader who has in recent months become a radical, has filed an affidavit of his intention to run as an independent candidate for governor. Wiginton will require the signatures on petitions of about 15,000 voters who do not participate in either the Democratic or Republican primaries this spring to be placed on the ballot next November. It is doubtful he expects to win a ballot place. He says “My candidacy is unique in that it is not solely concerned with electing an individual to office. It is an educational campaign designed to bring to the people of Texas the facts underlying the three major issues of todayracism, the war in Vietnam, and poverty.” He says he will hope to make a fully developed presentation of these issues to Texas voters this year. No Liberal Ticket V The muted, but apparent stand-offish stance of the State AFL-CIO towards the candidacy of Don Gladden, the liberals’ entry in the lieutenant governor’s race, was illustrated during Yarborough’s press conference. Asked if Yarborough and Gladden would form a liberal ticket this spring, Yarborough said no, the two campaigns would be run separately. “You mean you think you’ll get your programs passed with Ben Barnes [Gladden’s chief opponent] as speaker?” a reporter asked. Yarborough said he didn’t want to engage in personalities and added that his program will “be so exciting that I don’t see how anybody could turn it down.” The reason for Yarborough’s not run ning on a ticket with Gladden is the fact that state labor is considering stand ing neutral in the lieutenant governor’s race. Barnes, last fall, quickly lined up the support of most of the liberal state sena tors and this has made labor’s position as regards the Barnes-Gladden race a bit sticky. Anyway, Barnes appears certain to Win, labor people say, so why not court Barnes’ good wishes in hopes of having