ELECTIONS: A Year After & a Year Before

It was a year since the great landslide swept Dwight Eisenhower into the White House. The next national elections, for the Senate and House of Representatives, were a year away. At that political middle point, U.S. voters went to the polls last week in scattered state and local elections. Since it was a year after and a year before, politicians and pundits alike naturally adjusted their political microscopes to examine the results vote by vote.

Rare Agreement. The Republicans lost the three big ones—mayor of New York City, governor of New Jersey and U.S. Representative from New Jersey's Sixth District. They lost some smaller ones too, e.g., mayors of Columbus and Toledo. Ohio. When the results rattled in over the press wires, Democratic National Chairman Stephen Mitchell rubbed his hands and came forth with a statement: "The results . . . disclose ... a significant loss of confidence in the G.O.P."

For once, the Republican national chairman seemed to agree with the Democratic national chairman. Said G.O.P. Chief Leonard Hall: "We are in trouble."

Leonard Hall was right, but not for the reasons that Stephen Mitchell thought he was right. Rather than revealing a new trend, last week's election results retold an old story. The Republican Party has been weak for 20 years. Without the wide, bipartisan appeal of Dwight Eisenhower, the G.O.P. would have been in trouble in 1952. No party can expect the prestige or the popularity of its President to blind the voters to local shortcomings, or to make up for lack of local leadership and organization. Where it had the best of local issues and good organization work last week, e.g., Philadelphia and Chicago, the G.O.P. won. Where it had poor organization, poor candidates and got on the wrong side of local issues, e.g., New Jersey, the G.O.P. lost.

Full Realization. Many a Democrat, and Republican too, thinks that the Administration has not made enough of a record so far, that there has been too much study of issues, not enough decision, that the President gave in too easily when he faced congressional obstruction from members of his own party. This does not establish a Democratic trend, but it does reduce the value of the biggest Republican asset, Eisenhower's prestige.

At his news conference last week. President Eisenhower seemed to realize fully these facts of political life. "I have lost skirmishes before.'' he said, indicating that he expects to win the big battle for control of Congress next November. The only way to win votes, he said, is to enact a program that the mass of American people would say is a good one and to find candidates who merit the support of independent voters.

Dwight Eisenhower and his party have less than a year to complete such a program and produce such candidates.