The Pittsburgh Press (October 12, 1944)
Dewey to center on five key states
Brownell may urge return to Pittsburgh
Albany, New York (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey will spend most of the closing days of his campaign for the Presidency in five states whose 119 electoral votes may become the deciding factor in the November elections.
Despite pleas for personal appearances and major political speeches in widely separated sections, the GOP candidate has decided to concentrate on New York, Illinois, Missouri, Massachusetts and Minnesota. President Roosevelt carried those states in the 1940 elections against the late Wendell L. Willkie.
May come to Pittsburgh
Governor Dewey plans to confer on details of the final drive with RNC Chairman Herbert Brownell Jr. today while he is in New York City reviewing the Columbus Day parade. Mr. Brownell, it was reported, may urge him to appear again in Pennsylvania, possibly Pittsburgh, in an effort to win that state’s 35 electoral votes.
Mr. Brownell conferred with Republican leaders in Pittsburgh yesterday.
Requests for major Dewey speeches have come from Republican leaders in Kansas, New Jersey, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and several other states.
‘Last war’ speech
His announced schedule calls for talks in St. Louis, Monday; Minneapolis, Oct. 24; Chicago, Oct. 25; Buffalo, Oct. 31; Boston, Nov. 1; New York City, Nov. 4 and a final address from a radio studio Nov. 6, Election Eve. He will also speak at the Herald Tribune Forum in New York Oct. 17-18.
Except for a Herald-Tribune Forum speech, Governor Dewey and his associates have guarded the topics of the talks. Next Wednesday, he will speak on “This Must Be the Last War.”