The Pittsburgh Press (October 5, 1944)
Dewey strategy is to call shots on day-to-day basis
Republican candidate will plan speeches as replies to what Roosevelt says
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer
Albany, New York –
The underlying strategy of Governor Thomas E. Dewey’s bid for the Presidency between now and Nov. 7 will apparently be to call his shots on a day-to-day basis.
Today, he has only four major appearances scheduled – Charleston, West Virginia, Saturday; Chicago Oct. 25; Minneapolis, probably Oct. 26; and Boston Nov. 1.
Allegheny County Republican leaders expect Mr. Dewey to deliver a speech here late this month. Monday, Oct. 30, is the tentative date, but no final decision has been reached. The proposed rally will probably be an indoor affair.
Mr. Dewey thus will be able to fit the rest of his campaign pattern directly to the reports from his advisers, timing appearances where they will do the most good, and what he says often may be determined by what President Roosevelt has just said previously.
What will Roosevelt say
Today, nobody could be sure what Governor Dewey will say Saturday night. For a couple pf days, everyone here has been asking:
What will Roosevelt say? Will he continue the kind of attack he made before the Teamsters Union, or will he forget about Fala and try to get back on a lofty plane?
The answer to that almost surely is the answer to what Mr. Dewey will talk about when he goes into the mining country Saturday.
Pennsylvania return seen
A month before the election, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are seen in the Dewey camp as being the real battlegrounds of the campaign, but aside from the scheduled Boston speech, nothing is being said how the Republicans are to wage their battle in either state.
Mr. Dewey made his first formal campaign speech in Philadelphia, and earlier had meetings with Pittsburgh leaders, but advisers there press the view that he will have to return to Pennsylvania. Michigan and Missouri are other states where some contend the Governor should speak again to bolster good prospects he is believed to have in these sections.
Governor Dewey is paying attention to the vote of many special groups. Next Sunday, on his way back to Albany from Charleston, he will review a huge Pulaski Day parade in New York in which many thousands of Poles from several states will march. Again, next Tuesday, he will be in New York for a Columbus Day parade which annually attracts big Italian crowds.