ELECTION OF PRESIDENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19219, 9 July 1924, Page 4

ELECTION OF PRESIDENT.

AMERICAN METHODS. WHERE THE DOLLAR DECIDES. It is simple enough for a man to he a candidate for the Presidency, it is less easy for him to bo accepted as the choice of any particular State. It requires skill, organisation, a knowledge of the ways of politics, and money ; and of these things the greatest is money (writes Sir A. Maurice law in the Morning Post). There are various kinds of candidates. There is the man —Senator, member of the Cabinet, Governor —who knows he has an infinitesimal chance of being nominated, but who enjoys the vanity of being talked about as a candidate. Sometimes because lie is well thought of and the State knows it will flatter him to be mentioned as a candidate; mora often for ulterior purposes, the bosses encourage his candidature. Ho is the State's “favourite son,’ and thus a block of delegates is lied up until the moment comes when they can be thrown into the scale. The serious candidate goes about it in a different way. Strong men in his party think ho has qualities that will appeal to tho public, and are ready to back their judgment with money and work. It is always a gamble because they aro taking long odds, but the stakes are'great, and they are willing to take chances. In tbo most important .States an organisation is created in charge of a manager, who endeavours to arouse sentiment in favour of his candidate. Great quantities of literature aro distributed, the candidate himself makes many speeches, and ho is assisted by other orators. , , . r Of course, this costs a good deal of money,'and in some of the larger States £15,000 or £20,000 can be easily expended in ’ these pre-Convention campaigns. Federal and State Corrupt Practice Acts limit the amount of money candidates for the various offices may spend alter their nomination, but few States place any limit on expenditure before the nomination. Consequently the rich man or the man who has rich friends has an advanta<m over his poor opponent; and the man who cap stand a great physical strain also lias an advantage. A candidate with leather lungs, who can speak day and night for weeks without suffering, even although ho has few brains, will often make a better impression upon a mixed audience than a rival with finer intellect but a more frail physique. It is seldom that the nomination for the Presidency is allowed to go by default. Usually til ere are half a dozen or more men of the same parte competing for the nomination, who fight each other as bitterly, sometimes even more savagely, than tfiey do their political opponents. As a rule these internecine struggles leave no sears, and after the nomination is made the defeated pledge their loyalty to the victor and turn in to help huu carry their States, hut that is not always the case When the contest has been very bitter and personal feeling ha-s been aroused, when, as sometimes lumpens, money has been snent ton freely, or questionable pressure exerted, the supporters of the defeated candidates reluse to be reconciled, and show their resentment on election day. What candidates said about each other in the heat of the pre-Convention campaigns is carefullv treasured by the managers of the rival party as words of wisdom from the prophets, to be used later when the candidates of their respective parties make their appeal to the country for votes. In some StatevS the delegates may be pledged—that is, they must agree to vote in the convention for a designated candidate; or they are instructed to vote for him; in other States instructions are not permitted, hut the voters arc allowed to express a preference, and this preference.'is assumed to be morally binding upon the delegates. Moral obligations, in politics especially, often involve the splitting of hairs. ‘ Instructed delegates are frequently the first to desert, and a candidate lias been known to enter the convention with more instructed delegates than any of his rivals and yet lose the. nomination. Ibe value of these instructions is largely of importance to the shrewd political observer familiar with the way of politicians. He can tell whether the instructed delegates are in sympathy with their instructions, or, alter having ’ made a perfunctory show ot loyalty, will sell the pass before the first shot has been fired. The delegates instructed for a “favourite son” because of State pride or some other ingenious reason do not take their instructions seriously. They are like soldiers with wooden guns, who risk no battle, knowing there is safety elsewhere.