From the Pre-Election Road

My wife and I, as is our wont, spent a couple of the preelection weeks wandering here and there to enjoy the wild west wind and check on our country and countrymen. We drove about 2,500 miles, mostly in the mid-Atlantic states. I cannot report any startling discovery, but I transcribe a few impressions concerning matters of public import.

Politics. Writing this page three days before the election, I feel as sure as everyone except conceivably Gerald Ford that there will be a slaughter of Republicans, the innocent along with the guilty. But I did not notice the postWatergate anger about which many commentators have declaimed, nor, indeed, any other passionate political emotion. More than in any campaign I have known, the outstanding feature of the political mood was indifference. I sensed no spontaneous political enthusiasm in any of the eight states we visited. I never heard or overheard anyone arguing or even talking about the election. Political coverage in the local papers and TV was as dull in substance as in prose. The candidates, unable to arouse any public resonance, went through their paces in mechanical routine.

JB

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James Burnham

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My wife and I, as is our wont, spent a couple of the preelection weeks wandering here and there to enjoy the wild west wind and check on our country and countrymen. We drove about 2,500 miles, mostly in the mid-Atlantic states. I cannot report any startling discovery, but I transcribe a few impressions concerning matters of public import.

Politics. Writing this page three days before the election, I feel as sure as everyone except conceivably Gerald Ford that there will be a slaughter of Republicans, the innocent along with the guilty. But I did not notice the postWatergate anger about which many commentators have declaimed, nor, indeed, any other passionate political emotion. More than in any campaign I have known, the outstanding feature of the political mood was indifference. I sensed no spontaneous political enthusiasm in any of the eight states we visited. I never heard or overheard anyone arguing or even talking about the election. Political coverage in the local papers and TV was as dull in substance as in prose. The candidates, unable to arouse any public resonance, went through their paces in mechanical routine.