The Duffey Formula
MARGOLIS, RICHARD J.
PROSPECTS FOR NOVEMBER The Duffey Formula BY RICHARD J. MARGOLIS Hartford Agnes Morley, the Democratic state representative from Greenwich, Connecticut, was laid up in the hospital on Primary...
...Duffey, meanwhile, will run 'against President Nixon disguised as Lowell Weicker...
...Whatever the case, senatorial insurgencies do not arouse the party faithful, because senators, unlike governors, do not control much patronage...
...And Weicker, groping for middle ground, will run against "extremism on both sides...
...No one knows why he is running—it is assumed he cannot win—unless he wants to be "the spoiler...
...In any case, it seems likely that Dodd will seek the hard-hat vote: he will run against "crime in the streets...
...In all, he gained pluralities in 120 out of the state's 168 cities and towns...
...To labor's rank-and-file he added: elderly citizens enchanted with his boyish sincerity and disenchanted with the rising cost-of-living...
...By winning a large share of organized labor's support, Duffey succeeded in forging a coalition which even FDR might have envied...
...Duffey could win without unduly undermining the political job-holder's favorite prayer: Give us this day our Bailey bread...
...He's really got a pretty fair record," lamented a Duffey aide...
...Senator Thomas J. Dodd, who is seeking reelection as an independent...
...Even so, 'twas a famous victory, and the way Duffey achieved it might offer some guidelines to peace candidates around the nation, most of whom have been faring badly...
...She had herself placed upon a stretcher and borne by ambulance to the polling place...
...They did a good job...
...Then, too, Duffey benefited from a lackluster performance by the Bailey organization, which failed both to get into the fray and to get out the vote...
...Polling more than 79,000 votes, Duffey beat Donahue by 12,000...
...But whether issues or personalities predominate, Connecticut is sure to be the scene of a spirited campaign that will be closely watched across the country...
...But August 19 marked the first time the reformers' reach did not exceed their grasp...
...He also had much to say about the hardships of inflation, backing the establishment of temporary wage-price controls...
...But Mrs...
...Senator Dodd's candidacy, to borrow from Churchill, is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma...
...Both losers, along with Bailey and his minions, promptly pledged full support to the winner in the autumn election, a three-way race with Republican Congressman Lowell P. Weicker Jr...
...but as a former Democrat with a large and perhaps still-loyal constituency, he could pull from Duffey...
...Duffey softened his "peacenik" image and emphasized instead some bread-and-butter economic issues that just about everyone could understand and subscribe to...
...It may not be so easy next fall...
...His followers have been reaching hopefully upward for several years— as partisans of Eugene McCarthy in his 1968 bid for the Presidency (Duffey led that crusade in Connecticut), and more recently as promoters of reform within the Democratic party...
...But then, whose candidacy will he spoil...
...He has already labeled Dodd a hawk and Duffey a dove, observing at the same time that he does not believe in labels In the end it may come down to a contest of looks and personalities: Dodd's white hair and old-fashioned senatorial-ness, vs...
...In addition, Duffey had thousands of affluent white liberals left over from the McCarthy days working all summer —telephoning, canvassing, raising money—to get out the Duffey vote...
...He's no Goldwater...
...As a kind of conservative Robin Hood, he might be expected to take from the Republicans and give to the Democrats...
...We need a family assistance program that helps not only the destitute," said Duffey shrewdly, "but those thousands of Americans who work full-time but still live on the edge of poverty...
...Thus, in less than three years Duffey has transformed his position within the party from pain-in-the-neck to standard-bearer...
...He had Marcus, for instance, who kept insisting he was a liberal but came across to Richard J. Margolis, a free-lance writer, is a Connecticut resident...
...he also won, though not so decisively, in cities like Hartford, New Haven and Norwalk...
...Lowell P. Weicker Jr., the popular and good-looking Republican congressman from Fairfield County, is an intelligent campaigner...
...Joseph Duffey, 38, is a Congregational minister, national chairman of Americans for Democratic Action (ada) and Connecticut's happy symbol of sensible dissent...
...military operations in Cambodia...
...It was all too much for Alphon-sus J. Donahue, the wealthy, 53-year-old zipper distributor from Stamford, who was running for the senatorial nomination with official blessings from John M. Bailey (see "Duffey vs...
...In consequence, a lot of people who had turned their back on "the system" may now be taking a second look...
...Duffey's warmth, sincerity and perpetual good cheer...
...Senator, and Duffey supporters do not suffer obstacles lightly...
...He also voted to override President Nixon's vetoes on the housing and education bills...
...He played by all the old, stodgy rules—no revolutionary rhetoric, no captious call for a third party—and to nearly everyone's surprise, he won...
...Morley is a supporter of Joseph Duffey, the soft-spoken insurgent running for U.S...
...voters as a law-and-order man...
...Still flat on her back, she was carried into the voting booth—that little room with several views—where she pushed the Duffey lever...
...I'm going to hold him to that," says Duffey...
...but Duffey supporters prefer to think that the machine was itself wounded •—on its last legs, in fact—and simply did not have the strength to help Donahue...
...On the other hand, Weicker has been evasive about his position on the McGovern-Hatfield amendment, and being a Republican, he has slipped into the habit of professing fealty to the President...
...This could hurt him in a state that is traditionally Democratic...
...Duffey won big in wealthy suburban spas like Westport (1,295 for Duffey, 94 for Donahue, 54 for Marcus...
...He was challenged by State Senator John Lupton, a tory Goldwaterite, who kept accusing Weicker of abandoning Republican principles...
...A college student sent the following congratulatory telegram to Duffey: "Now I have faith that the America I learned about when I was a child will become a reality...
...There are 400,00 registered Republicans in Connecticut, and 475,000 registered Democrats...
...If Duffey loses in November, what are we to say of August...
...The balance of power lies with the 550,000 who have not affiliated with either party...
...young people who want America to get out of Vietnam...
...Duffey went down the line for organized labor, urging unemployment benefits to strikers caught in long strikes, opposing sections of the Taft-Hartley law, and showing up on picket lines in front of General Electric and the Avco Corporation in Stratford...
...the Bailey Machine in Connecticut," NL, July 20...
...Weicker's imposing appearance and soothing baritone voice, vs...
...PROSPECTS FOR NOVEMBER The Duffey Formula BY RICHARD J. MARGOLIS Hartford Agnes Morley, the Democratic state representative from Greenwich, Connecticut, was laid up in the hospital on Primary Day, August 19...
...The fact is that Duffey had a lot going for him this summer that he will not have going for him this fall...
...Marcus took votes from Donahue...
...We didn't want to create any wounds within the party," Bailey explained later...
...In a state where industry is heavily dependent upon war contracts, Duffey called for a "conversion trust fund" —in effect, a Federal subsidy to workers while defense factories were converting to peacetime production...
...But faith so easily gained can be as easily squandered...
...For example, Weicker voted against abm appropriations and he endorsed the Church-Cooper amendment restricting U.S...
...And the record he has compiled during two years in Washington is that of a reasonable moderate who keeps his own counsel...
...and he beat a third candidate, State Senate Majority Leader Edward L. Marcus, by 43,000...
...black and Spanish-speaking ghetto-dwellers who appreciated his liberal positions on civil rights, housing, education, and poverty...
...We're going to make Weicker look like the Republican he is...
...Weicker easily won the primary, but during the course of the campaign he felt compelled to emphasize his Republican credentials...
...A few weeks ago Weicker had his own primary to contend with...
Vol. 53 • September 1970 • No. 17
