Dewey wins in Wisconsin; Willkie 4th
Stassen, MacArthur run second, third
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (UP) –
A slate of convention delegates, who ignored Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s appeal to leave him out of the Wisconsin presidential primary election, emerged victorious today over the supporters of Wendell L. Willkie and two other GOP presidential possibilities in 1944’s first major test of Republican sentiment.
Incomplete returns from yesterday’s Wisconsin primary election gave Governor Dewey of New York 15 probable delegates to the GOP convention at Chicago, LtCdr. Harold E. Stassen five, Gen. Douglas MacArthur two, and uninstructed delegates, two.
There were 24 convention seats at stake in yesterday’s balloting. Four delegates were elected at large, and two more were selected from each of the state’s 10 Congressional districts.
Dewey’s men win
Dewey supporters had only three candidates running at large, and they won easily. A delegate pledged to Gen. MacArthur appeared certain to win the fourth seat in the statewide balloting.
In the contests for the 20 delegates from the Congressional districts, a MacArthur-pledged candidate was leading in the 5th district, bringing the general’s total to two.
All of the five apparent winners in the camp of former Minnesota Governor Stassen were running in the Congressional district races.
Figures given
Secretary of State Fred Zimmerman, who led the Dewey victory for delegate at large, said the New York Governor’s forces were certain to control the Wisconsin delegation to the GOP convention.
The Dewey victory was achieved without help from the New York Governor who has insisted he was not a candidate and had asked his delegates to withdraw.
In the contest for delegates at large, Mr. Zimmerman led the field with 95,328 votes in 2,365 of the state’s 3,075 precincts. David Hammergreen, second Dewey delegate, had 89,883, and the third, Edward Hilker, 87,881.
Willkie men disappointed
Fred F. Koehler of Milwaukee, a MacArthur candidate, had a vote total of 58,136 for the fourth delegate at large seat. He was followed closely by three other MacArthur candidates. A Stassen candidate, William J. Campbell, was next with 45,271 votes and the highest Willkie-pledged delegate was Vernon Thompson with a total of 38,995.
The voting was a big disappointment to backers of Mr. Willkie, who had campaigned for 13 days in the state seeking election of his delegates.
Walkaway for Roosevelt
The Democratic primary was a walkaway for the slate of 26 delegate candidates pledged to President Roosevelt.
The only opposition came from a partial slate of candidates who were not committed to anyone and ran only under the slogan “Stop Politics – Win the War.”
During his handshaking and speech-making tour from one end of Wisconsin to the other, Mr. Willkie had emphasized that he believed the Republican Party must be willing for the United States to play a dominant role in world affairs.
‘Important’ victory
He said the Wisconsin primary would be the most important primary election in 1944 and probably would point the way to later developments in the GOP’s selection of a 1944 presidential candidate.
Willkie was the only candidate to have a fill slate of 24 delegate-candidates pledged to him. MacArthur had 22, Stassen 19, and Dewey 15.
Under Wisconsin voting laws, the primary vote is not binding on the convention delegates, but by precedent they stick to their candidate as long as he has a chance for the nomination.
West Point, Nebraska (UP) –
Sacrifices will be great and casualty lists long before the war is won, Wendell L. Willkie, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, told approximately 500 persons here today while en route from Norfolk to Fremont and Omaha.
Mr. Willkie, who will wind up tonight his campaign for Nebraska’s preferential primary April 11, did not mention results of the Wisconsin primary yesterday. Mr. Willkie was to speak later today at Fremont and will make an hour-long speech at Omaha tonight on America’s foreign policy.
Willkie assails Roosevelt regime
Norfolk, Nebraska (UP) –
Wendell L. Willkie said today that the Roosevelt administration was “tired, cynical and disregardful of the will of the people” and added that he wanted to substitute a “Republican administration for this group.”
Mr. Willkie, in addressing a group of 1,000 at a local hotel as a part of his campaign for Nebraska’s 15 votes in the Republican National Convention, appealed to voters to help end “one-man rule, bossism and inside controls.”