Minnesota

...In 1954...

...If history repeats itself in 1956, it looks as if Adlai Stevenson will sign a four-year lease for the White House...

...Three weeks before the election, the principal problem worrying the Democratic party professional was over-confidence—or a last-minute surge of the inexplicable Eisenhower popularity...

...They recognize that, whatever the 1956 results may be, the Republicans have developed enthusiasm and leadership among the 20-to-30 age bracket which the Democrats have not matched...

...Nevertheless, Democrats are confident that Wier can lose only if Eisenhower sweeps...

...At the same time, farm discontent still is smoldering and spreading, although it is far from the open revolt some Democrats had expected...

...Hog prices—a favorite barometer—are doing poorly and will do worse...

...Wier's opponent is towering George Mikan...

...may be in trouble...

...Most Democratic strategists will admit that much of their 1954 gains can be attributed to the fact that Senator Hubert H. Humphrey was running and Eisenhower was not—but there is a widespread feeling that, if anything, the Democrats are stronger now than they were two years ago...

...Paul and John Blatnik in Duluth and the Iron Range, do not have serious opposition...

...Some of this forecast should be taken with caution...

...Freeman romped into the Governor's chair and Republican majorities out-state were cut from 165.000 to a bare 21,000...

...A political axiom has it that the "ins" are always ahead in campaigns because of such practical considerations as patronage, favors and other perquisites of holding office...

...There is one factor bothering some Democratic leaders who tend to look toward the future...

...But it is significant that few top Democrats were so optimistic when the campaign got under way...

...MINNESOTA Democrats overconfident By Sam Romer Minneapolis In all but four of the 24 Presidential elections during Minnesota's century, the state's favorite for President has been the nation's, too...

...and defeat Republican H. Carl Andersen in a third district...

...His district includes a section of Minneapolis where, Democrats complain, "normal Wier voters go Republican to keep up with their neighbors...

...Freeman has also lifted himself in public esteem from junior partnership to full-fledged leadership with Humphrev in the state's political hierarchy...

...Two other Democratic-Farmer-Labor Congressmen, Eugene McCarthy in St...

...But that was 1952...

...former Rural Electrification Administration national administrator...

...The Democrats are conducting energetic, free-wheeling campaigns in the other three Republican districts, especially against one of their pet targets, Congressman Walter Judd in Minneapolis...

...It is also noteworthy that, despite the inevitable pleas of campaign poverty, Democratic financial mendicants are having an easier time of it this year than in 1952...

...Four years ago, Eisenhower carried Minnesota by a whopping 150,-000 majority—of which 25,000 came from Hennepin County (Minneapolis...

...Nelsen, however, has failed to develop a single issue of stature?even the perennial charge of "labor bossism" has fizzled as a major campaign topic...

...Egg prices, which many farm wives depend on for marginal "luxuries," are also down...

...Roy Wier...

...the nation's basketball ace, whose campaign ("stick with Ike and vote for Mike") is being run by two former sportswriters with Madison Avenue flourishes...

...the emphasis in these districts is on the size of the majority...

...in their more alert moments, they candidly admit they can't measure the President's popularity (especially among the youth and womenfolk) any more than they can explain it...

...Democrats are banking on low prices to re-elect their two farm Congressmen...

...With the hog rush still to come, hogs are selling for $16 a hundredweight?barely above the cost of feeding...

...The fifth DFL incumbent...

...They may do better in the non-partisan race for the State Legislature, where the pro-Democratic liberals hope to add to their one-man majority in the lower house...

...Meanwhile, they boast that Governor Orville Freeman, running for his second term, is ahead by at least an 85,000 majority, that five Democratic-Farmer-Labor incumbent Congressmen are "sure" and they may come up with a sixth, and that the sweep will carry the stale for Stevenson...

...Fred Marshall and Coya Knutson...

...More important, the Democrats came out of the state's three metropolitan counties with less than 15,000 votes to counter traditional Republican majorities out-state...

...Few observers give them the edge in these campaigns...

...In addition, his two years in office have been constructive and well-balanced...

...More important is Freeman's unquestioned ability as a young, aggressive, popular campaigner...

...The Republicans have challenged Freeman with a heavyweight candidate, An-cher Nelsen...

...Unless the Democrats can revive the hold they had on the youth during the '30s, they can neither keep what they have nor hope for the future...

...Their glasses took on a rosy tint only after a month of stump-speaking in Minnesota's cities and towns...

...Democrats lull themselves to sleep nights by insisting they have enough of a lead to overcome any final Eisenhower thrust...