National Reports: The Election Northwest
FARRAGUT, MAX
NORTHWEST A GOP stronghold in danger By Max Farragut PORTLAND, OREGON OREGON is to the West what Maine and Vermont are to the East: a Republican bellwether. Dewey carried it in 1948; Eisenhower...
...This year, the races for Senator and for at least two Congressional seats are extremely close...
...At this moment, it appears that only a strong Democratic national tide can elect Neuberger...
...When Neuberger announced his candidacy last May, Republicans were inclined to discount him...
...so is the Governor and a large majority of both legislative houses...
...They were still complacent when Senator Morse announced that he would campaign actively for the Democrat...
...By this time, Republican complacency has vanished...
...They include the President himself, Vice President Nixon, House Speaker Martin, Secretary of the Interior McKay, Senator Knowland and others...
...Cordon seeks re-election on his record as a champion of power, reclamation and other resource projects for Oregon...
...Neuberger and Morse are attacking Cordon as a "giveaway Senator," citing his work in managing the tide-lands oil bill, his votes on the recent atomic-energy bill and key labor and Social Security measures, as well as his support of the Bricker Amendment...
...Big guns are being brought up by the score to bolster Cordon...
...The key factors are unemployment, the power shortage (Oregon desperately needs more low-cost power to attract industries), and farm discontent...
...Morse, who handles the language with rapier-like intensity, provides strong support...
...Neuberger??glib, volatile, a deft debater, twenty years younger than Cordon??is certainly the more colorful candidate...
...At present, all four Congressmen and both U.S...
...In the Third District, which includes Portland, Edith Green, a school teacher, is running strong against Republican T. Lawson McCall, wellknown Portland radio newscaster and one-time secretary to Governor McKay...
...Cordon stayed in Washington until Congress adjourned...
...In nearby Washington, economic distress is less of a factor...
...Senators (including Wayne Morse, who hasn't changed his registration) are Republican...
...Cordon banks on an efficient party machine, traditional Republicanism in downstate counties, and Eisenhower's coattails...
...Republican Senator Guy Cordon, originally appointed to the Senate but elected to a full term in 1948, is pitted against Richard L. Neuberger, a State Senator best known as the most successful non-fiction magazine writer in the Northwest...
...Senator Hugh Mitchell...
...Nevertheless, the Democrats hope to pick up at least one additional seat in the House...
...And he did: He kept pushing appropriations for the big dams now rising on the Columbia River (including McNary, recently dedicated by the President), for Federal transmission lines, Forest Service funds, and so on...
...Money is being spent lavishly...
...Democrats have a fighting chance for two of the four Congressional seats, all now held by the GOP...
...Labor is going all-out for Neuberger, who is also attracting increased farm support, especially from the Farmers Union...
...Since 1914, the state hasn't had a single Democratic Senator and only a handful of Democratic Congressmen...
...There, Republican incumbent Thomas M. Pelly, whom Eisenhower pulled through in 1952, is opposed by former U.S...
...The district is normally Democratic...
...In the Second District, AlUllman, President of the National Hells Canyon Association, is making headway against Sam Coon, the Republican incumbent...
...The other two seats seem safe for the GOP...
...As chairman of the Interior subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Cordon has been in a position to bring home the bacon...
...The Democrats are concentrating on the First District, which includes Seattle...
...When he came home, he was soon off on the most vigorous campaign of his life...
...Neuberger counts on these to win...
...Six of the state's seven Congressmen are now Republicans...
...But he may surprise...
...Eisenhower swept it in 1952...
Vol. 37 • October 1954 • No. 43
