The Pittsburgh Press (November 3, 1944)
State is safe, Martin tells Governor Dewey
GOP to win at least 50 counties, he says
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (UP) –
Governor Thomas E. Dewey headed homeward today from his third campaign swing into Pennsylvania carrying the personal pledge of Governor Edward Martin that the state’s 35 electoral votes will be “overwhelmingly” his in next Tuesday’s presidential election.
“Pennsylvania will be overwhelmingly Republican on Nov. 7,” Governor Martin said as he introduced Governor Dewey last night to GOP rallies at Wilkes-Barre and Scranton.
Confidence expressed
Governor Martin predicted that the 107,000 votes by which President Roosevelt carried Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) in 1940 would be cut to “less than 20,000.”
He said he expected to be able to talk more intelligently about Philadelphia after he visits there with Governor John W. Bricker, the GOP vice-presidential candidate, tonight, but predicted that “Philadelphia couldn’t possibly go bad enough for Roosevelt to carry Pennsylvania.”
He said it was mathematically possible for the soldier vote, which he expects to reach 300,000, to swing the state but he didn’t think the result would hang in the air until the absentee service ballots are counted Nov. 22.
Expects to win 50 counties
The Governor told a press conference that Mr. Dewey would carry “at least 50” of the state’s 67 counties.
It was at Governor Martin’s urging, in recognition of the possible close race for Pennsylvania’s 35 electoral votes, that Governor Dewey swung back into Pennsylvania for the third time. Governor Dewey had opened his campaign at Philadelphia on Sept. 7 and spoke again at Pittsburgh on Oct. 20.