National Reports: The Election New England
SHELDON, COURTNEY R.
NEW ENGLAND Republicans still favored By Courtney R. Sheldon BOSTON IF VOTERS were as obsessed with the unemployment issue as most New England politicians assume, the Democrats would undoubtedly...
...State Representative Robert F. Murphy, Democratic nominee for Governor, has made some headway against Governor Herter, who, like Connecticut's Lodge, is an Eisenhower Republican with internationalist leanings...
...Both candidates are commonly regarded as competent administrators whose interests do not stop at the state line...
...Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy, whom Furcolo had banked on for aid, has acted very lukewarmly toward the Furcolo candidacy and has refused to attack Saltonstall's record, as Furcolo asked...
...In the race for Governor in Vermont, Republican industrialist Joseph B. Johnson, now Lieutenant Governor, is challenged...
...Representative Abraham A. Ribicoff, the Democratic nominee, is apparently not far behind Governor Lodge despite an unspectacular campaign...
...NEW ENGLAND Republicans still favored By Courtney R. Sheldon BOSTON IF VOTERS were as obsessed with the unemployment issue as most New England politicians assume, the Democrats would undoubtedly sweep southern New England and cut GOP margins in New Hampshire and Vermont...
...Even a slight Democratic trend could give the Democrats two additional seats in Massachusetts, two in Connecticut and one in New Hampshire...
...A sizable segment of the electorate considers the McCarthy issue paramount and, for the moment, is frustrated...
...Massachusetts: Advance polls indicate that the slight Democratic trend is not quite enough to tip over Republican Governor Christian A. Herter and Republican Senator Leverett Saltonstall...
...Connecticut: Governor John Davis Lodge is somewhat hindered by GOP factional fights...
...The most likely Democratic gains are in the House of Representatives...
...In New Hampshire, Republican Senator Styles Bridges and Representative Norris Cotton are expected to be easy winners in the two New Hampshire Senatorial races, together with Republican Gubernatorial candidate Lane Dwinell...
...though not too seriously??by State Senator E. Frank Branon, a farmer...
...Candidates who are trailing may yet seize the issue...
...New England now has four Republican and two Democratic Governors, 9 Republican and three Democratic Senators...
...National trends are less likely to affect Senatorial and Governorship contests, where personality factors weigh more heavily...
...The bulk of New England is comparatively prosperous, and only in some of the chronic economic trouble-spots is the issue taking root...
...At times, both seem more suited to the national or international arena...
...This is an interesting departure...
...the Democrats previously picked their candidates from the cities, where they have their basic strength...
...Republicans now hold 19 and Democrats 9 seats in the six New England states...
...Murphy's main handicap is that this is the first time his name has been on a statewide ticket...
...He is still in a tight race but apparently has become more popular than his running-mate, Governor Herter...
...A factor far more likely to decide close races is the anticipated off-year election trend toward the Democratic party??first apparent in Maine's early elections...
...The issue has simmered below the surface, with both candidates afraid to take a stand...
...But the Democrats do not appear to have made the issue stick on a regional basis...
...Should the McCarthy issue be injected in Massachusetts at the last moment, all predictions would be out the window...
...In Rhode Island, Democratic Senator Theodore Francis Green is having little trouble with his Republican opponent Waller I. Sundlun, while Democratic Governor Dennis Roberts is favored for re-election over Dean Lewis...
...Governor Lodge's reputation as an internationalist and an Eisenhower-type Republican could be his undoing, for the Taft Republicans may well drag their heels...
...Early in the campaign, the Senator was thought to be in serious trouble...
...Factionalism on the Democratic side has injured the Democratic candidate, State Treasurer Foster Furcolo, in the final weeks of the campaign...
...The tightest races, as usual, are in the industrial states of Connecticut and Massachusetts, where voters flip back and forth between the parties...
Vol. 37 • October 1954 • No. 43
