An ‘ambition-bitten aspirant’ –
‘Willkie Rides Again’ article tries to put Wisconsin ‘hep’
La Follette publication attempts to discourages Progressives’ support
By Daniel M. Kidney, Scripps-Howard staff writer
Washington –
“Wendell Willkie Rides Again” is the title of an article on the candidate’s Wisconsin tour appearing today in The Progressive, published at Madison, Wisconsin, by a company headed by Senator Robert M. La Follette (PR-WI).
The tone of the article is such as to discourage Wisconsin Progressives from following the editorial suggestion of William T. Evjue of The Capital Times of Madison to vote in the Republican primary in favor of the 1940 GOP presidential candidate.
The author of the Willkie article is L. T. Merrill, described in The Progressive as “a professor of American history and former Wisconsin and Washington newspaperman.”
Mr. Merrill writes:
American political history hardly affords any parallel spectacle of an ambition-bitten aspirant bumping around at such a hectic pace trying to reinflate his sagging pre-convention prospects.
All the more surprising are these highly organized personal forays and sorties in view of Mr. Willkie’s hardboiled air of assurance last fall when he laid down his policies at Washington with a take-it-or-leave-it air.
Cites ‘truculent’ speed
The reference is to the speech Mr. Willkie made to freshmen Republican Congressmen which man who attended called “truculent.” The Progressive article continues:
All the subsequent traveling showmanship tends to belie a sense of genuine assurance on his part that he has the nomination in the bag or that millions of those he left holding the bag last time are as willing to hold it again.
Mr. Willkie’s current foray into Wisconsin follows a previous lure tour last November that apparently did not have all the desired effects, though it was carefully organized.
Mr. Merrill concludes that Mr. Willkie is winning more “newspaper decisions than anything else.”
Only one wants him
He writes:
Mr. Willkie’s checkup agent, who came into Wisconsin after he had left last fall, must have discovered that flattered or dazzled Wisconsin editors have given him a better “break” than any other GOP presidential aspirant – although this would not be the first time Wisconsin editors have climbed on the wrong horse and ridden off somewhere without great results in pulling their readers.
Despite the whooping and booming of which Mr. Willkie has been the beneficiary in some Wisconsin dailies, what are the results? A Gallup poll published Feb. 23 indicates only one of five Wisconsin Republicans wanted Mr. Willkie as their standard-bearer again.