THE CAMPAIGN: Fights in the Front Lines

I'm no statesman, says Illinois' Republican Representative Timothy Sheehan; "I vote the way the people want me to unless they're absolutely wrong." Tim Sheehan is no exception; last week, as the U.S. congressional campaigns neared an end, candidates everywhere were trying to figure out just what the people want. There were nearly as many answers as candidates, for each congressional district is an entity, with its own problems and personalities. The contest for the House, which now has 218 Republicans and 212 Democrats (with one member unaffiliated and with four vacancies), will not be decided on great national issues. Instead, the House will go to the party that manages to come up with the most candidates who have found the answers that appeal to the folks back home.

Whose Coattails? Candidates within each party have vastly different views as to what their attitudes should be toward, for example, Dwight Eisenhower. Illinois' Republican Candidate Richard Vail thinks his constituents are against Ike. Says he: "If they want their Congressman to go down to Washington for no other purpose than to genuflect every time Ike speaks, they've got the wrong man." In Washington State, when asked if G.O.P. Representative Thor Tollefson planned to attend the President's McNary Dam dedication, an aide replied: "Hell no, Thor doesn't want Ike to run on his coattails."

But far more candidates take a position like that of Illinois' Republican Candidate Edward Jenison, a formerly staunch Taftman, who is basing his campaign on the Eisenhower popularity, has plastered Springfield with signs reading: "Help Ed, Help Ike, Help You." And California's Mrs. Harriet Enderle is only one of the many Democrats who is running on a Help Ike platform. Says she, in her campaign against G.O.P. Representative James Utt: "I have sought to persuade the voters of this district that I would be of more help to the Republican President than Mr. Utt. If that's riding on Mr. Eisenhower's coattails—and I don't think it is—then I guess that's what I've been doing."

Elemental Conspiracy. Some candidates have come up with the wrong answers—and are now in trouble. Ohio's Republican Representative Paul Schenck burned with righteous—and, he thought, politically profitable—indignation when his home town was insulted by a federal planner who said Dayton's slums were the worst on the U.S. mainland. Schenck demanded that the man be fired; then he got back home to learn that thousands of Daytonians agreed with the planner. Result: Schenck is in a close, hard race, with public housing as the biggest issue of all.

Democratic Candidates George Christopher in Missouri and Torbert Mac-Donald in Massachusetts seem almost fashioned by fate to win in their widely disparate districts. Christopher, who has nine children, is running against Republican Jeffrey Hillelson in Missouri's Fourth District. The farm vote is decisive there, and Christopher was a tenant farmer for 21 years before scraping together enough money to make a down payment on his own place. Even the elements have conspired against Hillelson. Says Christopher: "We've been plagued by one year of flood, three years of drought and two years of Benson."