Books in Brief: The 21st Ballot: A Political Party Struggle in Minnesota

The 21st Ballot: A Political Party Struggle in Minnesota, by David Lebedoff (University of Minnesota Press, $5.95). Can any book accurately depicting the discomfiture of Minnesota’s entire Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, including sachems Humphrey, McCarthy and Mondale, be dull? Colorless, faithful Lt. Gov. Karl Rolvaag won the governorship in a 1962 election as close as Landslide Lyndon’s 1948 Texas squeak-through. For the next four years, the Democratic braves chafed at chief Karl’s well-intentioned but inept leadership, including his coquettishness about appointing himself or any younger warrior to Chief Running Mouth Humphrey’s Senate seat after Great White Father elevated Humphrey in 1964. After twenty agonizing ballots, through which attorney Lebedoff nimbly guides us, the 1966 Party convention dumps Rolvaag and nominates virile, hungry, Kennedy-esque (in looks) Lt. Gov. “Sandy” Keith. The bigwigs gurgle and coo—we love Sandy. Rolvaag broods, then does the unheard-of: challenges Keith in the primary, the “21st ballot.” Minnesotans, politically maverick, love underdogs; Rolvaag plays that part — “Let the people decide”—as if he invented it. Karl wins—a hero redivivus. The party chieftains swallow hard and grin—we love Karl. But how far “under” is a winning underdog? In November’s election, the Republicans unexpectedly scalp the Democrats. Lebedoff’s first book is scrupulously researched, understated, fascinating—and a modern morality tale to boot. The moral: the tribe that dumps its chief loses the wigwam.

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D. Brudnoy

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The 21st Ballot: A Political Party Struggle in Minnesota, by David Lebedoff (University of Minnesota Press, $5.95). Can any book accurately depicting the discomfiture of Minnesota’s entire Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, including sachems Humphrey, McCarthy and Mondale, be dull? Colorless, faithful Lt. Gov. Karl Rolvaag won the governorship in a 1962 election as close as Landslide Lyndon’s 1948 Texas squeak-through. For the next four years, the Democratic braves chafed at chief Karl’s well-intentioned but inept leadership, including his coquettishness about appointing himself or any younger warrior to Chief Running Mouth Humphrey’s Senate seat after Great White Father elevated Humphrey in 1964. After twenty agonizing ballots, through which attorney Lebedoff nimbly guides us, the 1966 Party convention dumps Rolvaag and nominates virile, hungry, Kennedy-esque (in looks) Lt. Gov. “Sandy” Keith. The bigwigs gurgle and coo—we love Sandy. Rolvaag broods, then does the unheard-of: challenges Keith in the primary, the “21st ballot.” Minnesotans, politically maverick, love underdogs; Rolvaag plays that part — “Let the people decide”—as if he invented it. Karl wins—a hero redivivus. The party chieftains swallow hard and grin—we love Karl. But how far “under” is a winning underdog? In November’s election, the Republicans unexpectedly scalp the Democrats. Lebedoff’s first book is scrupulously researched, understated, fascinating—and a modern morality tale to boot. The moral: the tribe that dumps its chief loses the wigwam.