ILLINOIS: Something Different

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Chicago expected better things of its mayoralty campaigns. In times past there had been Big Bill Thompson, protecting them from the British Empire and threatening to punch King George in the snoot. Almost every election spring, charges of whopping graft and corruption hurtled through the air above the neglected streets and the uncollected garbage. This year things were different. Said one oldtimer: "Campaign, hell! This is a pillow fight!"

The chief reason was the Democratic candidate. Martin H. Kennelly (rhymes with uh-nelly) was something new in Chicago politics. A businessman and civic leader, he had fought the Kelly-Nash machine in 1936 and 1939. This year he had consented to run only on condition that he would have no interference from Jake Arvey's Democratic machine.

He had waged a good campaign. He stuck to local issues, made quiet, good-humored speeches, drank beer (which he dislikes) with the boys in the precinct clubs. He emphasized that he was no politician. Said one G.O.P. worker glumly: "Kennelly is running on his sainthood."

About the only thing worrying the Democrats last week was that Kennelly's sainthood might be too convincing for rowdy Chicago. Old Boss Kelly, who would soon retire after 14 years in City Hall, was at pains to tell one & all that Kennelly was "no bluenose" but a "square shooter."

Falling Forelock. Republicans were bitterly regretting their overconfidence of last November, when they figured that they could win with anybody. Governor Dwight Green had thereupon picked a nobody—a political unknown, Russell W. Root. A big, bumbling bear of a man notable only for his party loyalty, his amiability, and his political ritualism ("I'll go along"), Root's undistinguished career as lawyer and minor public servant did not stand up well under comparison with Kennelly.

Against a Democratic candidate unbeholden to Boss Kelly and not responsible for any part of his administration, the standard G.O.P. issues—sanitation, politics on the school board, police inefficiency —fell flat. Root resorted to rhetoric. Waving his arms, his forelock falling across his eyes, he denounced President Truman, Secretary of State Marshall, a third world war. Fed up, many Republicans were supporting Kennelly. Some even contributed money to his campaign.

This week, eight days before election, the Chicago Times's straw poll showed Kennelly with 58% of the votes. Even the Tribune, Root's only supporter among newspapers, admitted grudgingly that Chicago had "two good candidates."