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Connally might resign from the Nixon Cabinet in time to offer himself as a candidate at the Democratic Convention?” This latter theory appears to be wishful thinking on the part of the News, a Democratic newspaper where the editorial policy makes it impossible to embrace any politician to the left of John Calvin Coolidge. Connally and his Texas delegation were not welcomed with open arms at the 1968 Democratic Convention. The Texas governor pouted because he felt that Hubert Humphrey was “ignoring” the Lone Star State. From time to .time, Connally, the state’s favorite son candidate, threatened to not release Texas’ convention votes. The Texas delegation was rebuffed in its attempt to maintain the unit rule and very nearly thrown out in favor of a liberal challenge delegation. Connally’s super-hawkish position was disavowed by the Democrats. And, as a final blow, Humphrey made it known in no uncertain terms that he would not consider Connally as a possible vice-presidential candidate. IF CONNALLY did not feel particularly at home at the 1968 convention, he should be a virtual outcast at the 1972 convention, with liberals Humphrey, Muskie, Kennedy, Hughes and McGovern as the possible presidential candidates. Humphrey, Hughes and McGovern all attended a homecoming dinner for Sen. Ralph Yarborough in Austin the day after the Connally appointment was announced. Of the three, Humphrey was the only potential candidate who had kind words for Connally. But then Humphrey has kind words, and many of them, for everyone. George McGovern said that the only response Nixon’s Southern strategy makes to the South’s economic problems is to say, ‘We shall appoint a Carswell or a Connally to show you how.” All in all, it would seem to be a good time for Connally to sever his ties with the National Democratic Party. In the schizophrenic world of Texas politics, he may still be able to function effectively as a Texas Democrat. At least, he has promised the press, “I come in as a Democrat and I’ll leave as a Democrat.” But what is left for Connally to do as a Democrat? He has been governor. His old power base in Washington is gone. He has defeated his old foe, Ralph Yarborough, with a hand-picked candidate, Lloyd Bentsen. And with Bentsen in office and Barnes on the horizon, the state is in safe, conservative Democratic hands. It would seem like a good time to move on to greener pastures. Leslie Carpenter, the Washington correspond6nt with close ties \(remember axis, insisted that Connally’s decision had nothing to do with politics, that he has no designs on the vice-presidency for either party. “While Connally’s pocketbook has never been sufficiently empty for concern over pennies, he did have to count dimes during many earlier years,” Carpenter wrote. He continued, without a trace of condemnation in his tone, “Connally hungers to be rich. . . . It is elementary logic to expect that a successful Secretary of the Treasury can leave government and politics up to his ears with offers of directorships from big banks and the giant corporations, plus other business bids.” While Connally has considerable experience as a businessman, he has no particular qualifications for handling the nation’s economy, especially in such a precarious period as this. “I didn’t know he could add,” sniped a Democratic governor. Time avowed that Connally “is simply not known in New York financial circles.” But, as many columnists pointed out, a Cabinet secretary can get by on the technical advice of his staff. His main job is usually political. WHAT, THEN, could be expected of Secretary Connally? As a three-term Texas governor, he was a conservative, but something of a spender, especially in the field of education. During his reign, the state’s two-year budget rose from $1.46 billion in 1963 to $2.5 billion in 1969. Connally signed bills increasing the state sales tax a panny and instituting a one-cent city sales tax. As governor, he was militantly anti-labor. He campaigned against the public accommodations section of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and he had “serious doubts” about Medicare. Connally was one of the first governors to veto a War on Poverty project. In recounting his accomplishments as governor to the Observer proudest of his record of increasing state expenditures for education and in promoting new industry and tourism for the state. There is little in the Connally record to indicate what his economic policies might be. At a Democratic rally in Plano’ Oct. 9, Connally cited the economy as a reason why Texas did not need another Republican senator. “I don’t think we need any more Republican prosperity,” he said. EDITOR Kaye Northcott CO-EDITOR Molly Ivins EDITORS AT LARGE Elroy Bode, Ronnie Dugger, Bill Hamilton Contributing Editors: Winston Bode, Bill Brammer, Gary Cartwright, Lee Clark, Joe Frantz, Larry Goodwyn, Harris Green, Bill Helmer, Dave Hickey, Franklin Jones, Lyman Jones, Larry L. King; Georgia Earnest Klipple, Larry Lee, Dave McNeely, Al Melinger, Robert L. Montgomery, Willie Morris, Bill Porterfield, James Presley, Charles Ramsdell, Buck Ramsey, John Rogers, Mary Beth Rogers, Roger Shattuck, Edwin Shrake, Dan Strawn, John P. Sullivan, Tom Sutherland, Charles Alan Wright. We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the rights of man as the foundation of democracy; we will take orders from none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. The editor has exclusive control over the editorial policies and contents of the Observer. None of the other people who are associated with the enterprise shares this responsibility with her. Writers are responsible for their own work, but not for anything they have not themselves written, and in publishing them the editor does not necessarily imply that she agrees with them, because this is a journal of free voices. THE TEXAS OB SERVER The Texas Observer Publishing Co. 1970 Ronnie Dugger, Publisher A window to the South A journal of free voices Vol. LXII, No. 27 Jan. 8, 1971 Incorporating the State Observer and the East Texas Democrat, which in turn incorporated the Austin ForumAdvocate. Editorial and Business Offices: The Texas Observer, 504 West 24th St., Austin, Texas 78705. Telephone 477-0746. GENERAL MANAGER C. R. Olofson OFFICE MANAGER Irene Wilkinson EMERITUS BUSINESS MANAGER Sarah Payne The Observer is published by Texas Observer Publishing Co., biweekly from Austin, Texas. Entered as second-class matter April 26, 1937, at the Post Office at Austin, Texas, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Second class postage paid at Austin, Texas. Single copy, 25c. One year, $7.00; two years, $13.00; three years, $18.00; plus, for Texas addr6sses, 4%% sales tax. Foreign, except APO/FPO, 50c additional per year. Airmail, bulk orders, and group rates on request. Change of Address: Please give old and new address, including zip codes, and allow two weeks. Form 3579 regarding undelivered copies: Send to Texas Observer, 504 W. 24th, Austin, Texas 78705.