National Affairs: Chip off the Old Rock

Long Island's Nassau County is a solid rock of Republicanism. For 36 years Republicans have been breezing into Nassau County offices, usually by more than 2-1. This year scandal swept across the county from the Roosevelt (trotting horse) Raceway, where labor racketeers had been shaking down the employees and some owners of stock had made fabulous profits. The county's Mr. Republican, National Committeeman J. Russel Sprague, turned out to be one of the stockholders of the scandal-ridden Yonkers Raceway, in nearby Westchester County.

On election day this had an effect. Republicans won all of the county contests, but they suffered an average 11% reduction in pluralities. Levittown, with 17,000 middle-class homes and a record of going 65% for the national Republican ticket in 1952, went Democratic.