National Affairs: Straws in Maine

In the nation's earliest general election, Maine voters will toss their traditional straws into the political wind Sept. 10. Holding the attention of most of the weather-vane watchers is the race between Maine's first Democratic governor in 20 years, Edmund S. Muskie, 42, and his Republican challenger, Willis A. Trafton Jr., a wealthy, 37-year-old attorney from Auburn. Muskie has campaigned hard on a record that some of Maine's most influential newspapers, e.g., the independent Gannett chain, have found good, while Trafton has appealed largely to Maine's Republicanism. By campaigning with U.S. Senators Margaret Chase Smith and Frederick G. Payne at his...