REPUBLICANS: And Then There Were Two

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Vice President Richard Nixon pushed aside the papers headlining G.O.P. defeat, squared himself for the long, rough run toward 1960. Nixon's political situation had changed overnight. On Nov. 4 he stood virtually unchallenged for the Republican presidential nomination in 1960. On Nov. 5 he could look over his shoulder and see a red-hot potential contender in the person of New York's Governor-elect Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, who ran up a sensational 557,000-vote win in Democratic territory even as California Republicans—including a Nixon protege for attorney general—were getting shredded all across the board.

Rocky himself was making no promises either way. Said he: "I have no other interest in any other job except being Governor of this state." But the size and scope of his victory had made him a threat to Nixon whether he liked it or not. An Associated Press poll of Republican state chairmen last weekend showed 20 pointing to Nixon as a clear front runner, two (from New York and Massachusetts) claiming Rocky was already the leader—and ten who said it was a tossup between Nixon and Rockefeller.

In the weeks before the elections TIME correspondents talked to dozens of Republican leaders in states where Nixon had campaigned. Almost to a man they were grateful for his efforts, well aware that Nixon need not have lifted a finger in the 1958 campaign had he wanted to duck a part in almost certain defeat. Last week those same leaders were still grateful. But hardly a Republican leader anywhere could keep Rockefeller's name out of the Nixon conversation. Said Illinois Republican Claude Kent, himself a staunch Nixonite: "We think we have a strong new contender in this other fellow [Rockefeller]." Warned Utah's National Committeeman Jerry Jones: "As of now, I'd be a Nixon man. But if he slips too far to the right, the Republicans might find Rockefeller might turn out to be a Moses."

Republican Nixon had other problems as he got ready for 1960. President Eisenhower, always reluctant to take a hand in politics on a partisan, partywide basis, would be even less likely to help in the next two years. That left Nixon as the functional political head of the Republican Party, yet he would have to walk carefully to avoid stepping out of line with Ike, whose good will he would need now more than ever.