70 Year Magazine Archive

Letter from Washington

by Cato

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Follow this carefully. California Governor Jerry Brown says his goal is to serve his full four- year term: “That’s my goal, but why try to anticipate?” Why, indeed. Why, then, are Allard Lowenstein and a batch of others doing a survey of presidential primary laws for the Governor? A staff member says modestly that the study is “just a case of staff preparedness.” Preparedness for what? The Governor says that if someone puts his name on a primary ballot, “I might leave itinorI might take it off. I’m not kicking myself in or out of anything. I’m not a candidate, but I’ll serve the party in whatever way I feel I can.” And: “The fact is when you’re governor of a large state, you’re part of the political landscape.”

■ This month’s fad in the Democratic Party might be called “Hubert Chic.” With Senator Kennedy at last counted out of the Democratic nomination scramble, pollster George Gallup finds Senator Hubert Humphrey trailing George Wallace by just three points, 23 to 20, as the top choice of rank-and- file Democrats. Next come Senators George McGovern, 11; Henry Jackson, ten; Edmund Muskie, ten. It is worth remembering that Washington comedian Mark Russell says Washington is so dull in August that young people sit around getting high by listening to recordings of Henry Jackson’s speeches.

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