THE CAMPAIGN: Fork in the Road

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A Job of Selling. But in a state that has routinely accepted extraordinary federal aid, that has expected its Congressmen and Senators to bring home the bacon, it is hard to talk against the joys of federal aid. Art Langlie realized the difficulty in February 1955 when, invited to the White House, he was urged by Presidential Assistant Sherman Adams to run for the Senate against Magnuson. He returned home to consider, eventually wrote out an involved "I will not run" statement. Asked Evelyn Langlie, when he read it to her: "Why don't you just say you're quitting?"

Langlie tore up the statement, issued a new one, jumped into his greatest campaign with both feet. The first move: organization of a buttonholing, doorbell-punching Langlie-for-Senate committee in each of Washington's 39 counties. Last week these volunteers got the promise of valuable campaign assistance. In San Francisco, Eisenhower told Langlie that he intended to swing through Washington and Oregon before November.

The Ground Gainer. Senator Magnuson has already made 300 speeches in 3½ months, and he takes off across the state this week in a campaign bus all rigged with amplifiers, microphones, record turntable, stacks of literature, and a galley to provide coffee and doughnuts for the voters. Maggie sums it all up this way: "This campaign is basic. Have I done a good job for the state? And if not, can anyone do better?" To this, Art Langlie, the Eisenhower Republican replies: "The people are entitled to make a decision and determine whether they want the facts honestly on a national level or are going to have a continuance of the idea that the federal Treasury is a pork barrel and everyone can reach in and get whatever he can regardless of the welfare of the country."

Although polls indicate that Langlie faces an uphill fight to win, they also show him gaining ground on Maggie. Said a Magnuson supporter: "If I had to bet $100 on Maggie, I'd go right out and hedge it with $50 on Langlie." Ultimately, the traditional tendency of Washington voters (who give the Democrats a nominal 11% edge) is to ignore party labels for a particular man or issue. Until they pass the fork in the 1956 road and make the big choice, the race will be in doubt for everybody.