Democrats Show Confidence About 1970

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32114, 9 October 1969, Page 11

Democrats Show Confidence About 1970

(Tram THANK OLIVER, special correspondent N.Z.P.A.) WASHINGTON.

The various public polls continue to show President Nixon to be a pretty popular man in the nation. In the popularity stakes he is about the 60 per cent mark. Evidence continues to accumulate indicating that this popularity is not shared by his party and some observers believe that the public polls often lag.

The importance of all this is concerned with 1970, when the whole of the House and a third of the Senate is up for re-election. Mr Nixon’s hope clearly is that he can establish a record which will persuade the electorate •to give him majorities in both chambers of Legislature. He needs such majorities to push through his legislative plans in the second half of his term. But the Democrats at this stage are confident about 1970 and they have hard facts on which to base their jubilation. By-elections continue to go in their favour and ini various parts of the country.The latest Democrat victory, came last week and it was a rather significant one. In the nine months Mr Nixon has been in the White : House there have been five' special elections for seats rendered vacant in the House and Democratic candidates have' won four of them and replaced Republicans in three L of them. The party as a whole? feels very happy about the whole thing. States Far Apart These victories have been? won in States far apart, inj Tennessee, in Wisconsin, in Montana and in Massachu-' setts. Some Democratic lea-; ders feel that the votes of ' many thousands of voters is ( better than a sample popu- : larity poll of about 2000 ■ people across the nation. : Two of these four victories are regarded as having a ( great deal of political signifi- . cance. The first of these was ; in Wisconsin immediately after Mr Nixon had selected , his Cabinet He called a Con-, gressman, Mr Laird, to run , the Pentagon. The voters of I Mr Laird’s district promptly!) sent a Democrat to replace' him in the House. |j Then last week, almost nine ; months later, the Democrats ; wrested a Massachusetts seat ’ from the Republicans, a seat ; that had been solidly Republi-h can for almost a century’. ■ Qualified Win 1

Some significance for the Democrats is also seen-m the. one contest the Republicans did win. This was when Mr, Barry Goldwater's son ran inj a heavily Republican district; in California. He won, as ex-j pected, but Democrats took heart from the fact that their man, the loser, got 43 per cent: of the vote, whereas in 1968 their candidate got only 28 per cent The Massachusetts result!' really did stagger the Repub-!! licans. They took the seat out' 1 of Democratic hands in 1875 and have held it ever since, i Naturally, it has long been regarded by both parties as an impregnable Republican fortress. But running as an anti-Vietnam war candidate, a Democrat Mr Michael Harrington, took 53 per cent of the vote and defeated a popular State senator and son of a former Massachusetts senator.

I The Democratic national i chairman has insisted that the (results of these elections do (not indicate anything “remotely resembling the ‘emerging Republican majority’ we have heard so much about.” ■ The Democratic leader in the House says that he believes ithe results represent a national pattern. He added, “They reflect a widespread dissatisfaction on i the part of the American electorate with the performance of the incumbent Administration and the Republican Party.” Democrats Excited

Of course, it is only politically proper to be optimistic in such circumstances but there is a measure of excitement visible in Democratic! ranks in this city. Many Democrats believe that there is a! trend in their favour and that: future public polls will show a drop in Presidential and party popularity unless there is a quick and satisfactory end to the Vietnam war. That.

however, is regarded as a remote possibility. Ap this is written there are reports of secret talks under way in which Washington has an indirect line into Hanoi, but at this point there is not a great deal of optimism visible.

The President’s plea for a 60-day moratorium on criticism of his efforts to end the war fell on very stony ground. It only galvanised criticism in Congress and in the press. For instance one important Southern newspaper which warmly supported Mr Nixon's candidacy last year and applauded his election now says, “After a symbolic nine months what does the Nixon Administration produce on the Vietnam war? Only a call for 60 more days of a honeyi moon gone stale.” This newspaper and plenty | of others are taunting the President with his campaign statements about the war and his unannounced plan to end the conflict. One comment says, . ■ American wear!-

; ness with the war is ho secret here or abroad and 60 days of quiet will put no disguise on it.” Gradualism Criticised There is criticism of the Administration policy of gradualism as it asks jfor more time to settle Vietnam, more time to solve integration prob-; lems. more time to curb infla-! tidn and stop the rise in cost of living, more time to develop policies for this, that and the other. The time, says more than one comment, has come for action. The “more time” formula says one comment can be legitimate but can also evolve into politics or postponement. One writer has remembered what an- American journalist] wrote 1 a long time ago, that "procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday” and the consensus among aj number of critics might be said to be that the yesterday I of Vietnam is what the nation wishes to overtake and leave behind.