ALASKA: KEY RACES TO THE STATEHOUSE

Many a political pro, with respect for the power and patronage a Governor can wield, looks first to the results of the nation's gubernatorial races for a key to the political future. Of the 34 governorship races next month, these—plus New York—are the key seven:

The Union's strapping unborn infant—which will not officially assume statehood until early 1959—already thinks it knows the name of its first elected Governor: Democrat William A. Egan, 43. Egan is running a one-sided contest against Republican John Butrovich Jr., 48, Fairbanks insurance man, former Territorial Senator and longtime political catechist to Territorial Governor Mike Stepovich (running for the U.S. Senate). President of the 1955 Alaska constitutional convention, Valdez Grocer Egan is his party's second-ranking vote getter (after indefatigable Delegate to Congress E. L. —"Bob"—Bartlett). Even though penny-pinching Bill Egan lost ten campaign days by driving home from Washington to save plane fare, he will probably win the governorship in a walk—and with it the chance to fill state administrative ranks with some 1,000 Democrat appointees.

CALIFORNIA

Nothing that Republican William Fife Knowland has done yet in his bulldozing effort to take the Governor's seat seems to plow under the omens: that he is in for a fearsome drubbing from Democratic Candidate Edmund G. ("Pat") Brown, state attorney general (TIME, Sept. 15). Knowland, who shouldered Governor Goodwin J. Knight aside so that he could run, has suffered a series of campaign reverses, most recently last week when three of the four Hearst papers in California endorsed the Brown candidacy—the first endorsement of a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in more than 30 years. And although "Goodie" Knight, a fortnight ago, dutifully posed for pictures with Knowland, he has not gone so far as to verbally acknowledge Knowland as a running mate or to endorse his stand for a state right-to-work law. Most party candidates feel the same way. As undaunted as ever, Knowland counts on a silent vote from rebellious union members, hopes major California appearances by President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon this month will give him a big lift.

IOWA