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t. dirriA gt000.4 e Vice President Connally? The possibility of Gov. John Connally’s getting the Democratic vice-presidential nomination is much debated by Texans these days. Columnists Evans and Novack recently wrote with their usual air of authority that Hubert Humphrey had definitely ruled him out as a possibility. Then Newsweek magazine quoted one of Humphrey’s “key advisers” as saying the vice president is under “unbelievable pressure to take John Connally” as his running mate. It is the Observer’s understanding that Sen. Ralph Yarborough has told Humphrey that if Connally is his vice-presidential nominee, the ticket cannot carry Texas. According to national political observers, Americans are fed up with Texas politicians. Still, as one Texas liberal put it, “If Lyndon Johnson wants Connally on the ticket, he’ll be on the ticket.” V At the national governors’ conference last month, Governor Connally urged Hubert Humphrey to choose a “moderConnally reported that the vice president “basically agreed” with his theory. Connally and other southern governors told Humphrey that he should not “overemphasize” the Vietnam war, but rather make law and order the primary issue of the presidential campaign. Connally said he informed Humphrey that “George Wallace has made greater strides than some of us had anticipated as late as six weeks ago.” The Texas governor predicted, however, that Wallace’s popularity will diminish after the other two parties hold their conventions. V Before Sen. Edward Kennedy an nounced that he will not take the Democratic party’s vice presidential nomination, Connally told reporters he could not say whether the Massachusetts senator would be a good choice because he does not know what “abilities and capacities” the senator has. Sen. Ralph Yarborough, who recently announced he had planned on supporting Sen. Robert Kennedy for president, immediately pounced on Connally’s statement. The liberal Texas senator said: “President John F. Kennedy lifted John Connally from obscurity to prominence by appointing him Secretary of the Navy in 1961 and then by helping him be elected governor in 1962. John Connally has shown his ingratitude ever since by attacking the Kennedy brothers at every chance without cause and without provocation. John Connally’s statements present a study of how base ingratitude can become.” gof The Texas governor, has, not actively solicited the position, and he receiv ed no mandate to do so by his fellow gov ernors. One exception was South Caro lina Gov. Robert E. McNair, who intro duced him to a Columbia, S.C., audience by calling him “a man among men, one of the great men of our times, and one whose voice would be heard in the councils of the high.” McNair gave Connally a blanket endorsement “for whatever position he plays in charting the course of the nation in the future.” g o o The governor received “much person al respect” at the Southern Conference of the Council of State Governments in July, but he didn’t get an endorsement there either. Many .of his supporters guessed Texas was the only southern state he would carry if he were on the Democratic ticket. They said voters would react to him as a “Johnson protege.” V’ Connally said recently that he doubts President Johnson will reenter the presidential campaign, but he hedged his bet. “I think he meant what he said, but I would not rule out any possibility in politics,” the governor told reporters. Like Connally, Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes will carry the torch for law and order to Humphrey. The southern legislators, meeting in Biloxi, Miss., charged Barnes, outgoing chairman of the conference, with convincing Humphrey that if he does not take a harder line on crime, he will lose the south to George Wallace. Barnes said a caucus of Democrats from 12 states unanimously agreed that law enforcement is the “number one issue” in this year’s presidential election. V At the conference Barnes blocked con sideration of a resolution asking both Republicans and Democrats to give their electoral college votes to only a majority party candidate, thus excluding votes for Wallace. “There is not going to be any public discussion at this conference about the political bargaining among the three so-called political parties,” Barnes said. The conference passed a Barnes resolution commending the Johnson administration for progress in federal-state relations and called on the next president to continue the trend. State Sen. Joe J. Bernal of San An tonio has endorsed Humphrey for president. He helped plan the vice-presi dent’s scheduled visit to Texas Aug. 9-10. Bernal says he probably will not go to BOUND VOLUMES Bound volumes of the 1967 issues of The Texas Observer are now available. In hand some maroon washable binding the same as in recent yearsthe ‘price is $12. Also available. at $12 each are volumes for the years 1963, 1964, 1965, and 1966the years of The Observer in its present format. Texas residents please add the 3% state and Austin city sales tax to your order. Volumes will be sent postpaid. the national convention. “I’m caught be’ tween being anti-Connally and pro-Humphrey,” he explained. The presence of Hank Brown, president of the Texas AFL-CIO, among the delegates from Texas to the Democratic National Convention is causing much comment. Brown has made many statements highly critical of Connally as antilabor over the years. Brown is now pledged to Connally as favorite son for President under the unit rule. Brown is not an elected delegate; rather, he was among those appointed by, in effect, Connally, but he says he will not campaign for the national ticket this year if Connally is on it. Sen. McCarthy p Sen. Eugene McCarthy’ will be in Houston Aug. 9. V Texas McCarthy workers say that Hubert Humphrey’s release of his convention delegates will not affect their challenge of the unit rule in Texas. Gov . Connally, who has all but endorsed Hum.phrey, says he will not liberate the Texas delegates from their favorite son commitment. The UPI estimated that about three-fourths of the Texas delegation supports the vice-president. However, McCarthy people could not find any supporters of their man among the Texas delegates, except for one Benton Musslewhite of Lufkin, who is, of course, bound to the unit rule like the rest of the delegation. Texas Democrats for an Open Con ‘ vention continue to gather facts in their attempt to prove that the Connally delegation does not represent the state’s Democrats. “We have learned that the convention procedures followed in Texas in recent years are corrupt and discrim inatory,” Alan Reed, head of the state Mc August 9, 1968 7 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 504 West 24th Street Austin, Texas 78705 scription for: Name Street City State Zip 173 $6 enclosed. Bill me.