Republican Party: Back from the Brink

struggle." Since Reagan will be 61 in 1972, he might have to move in 1968 or forget it altogether.

Some pros speak longingly of a Romney-Nixon ticket, or a Romney-Percy ticket, or Romney-Hatfield, or even Romney-Reagan. At the moment none of the prospective running mates would settle for the vice-presidential nomination. The impasse reminded one old hand of the time when Calvin Coolidge asked Senator William Borah if he would join him on the G.O.P. presidential ticket. "Which end?" snapped the stately Senator.

A Prize Worth Winning. Talk of 1968 is, of course, premature. But the very intensity and fervor with which it erupted even before all the ballots were counted was itself a reflection of the G.O.P.'s vastly improved outlook and buoyant spirits. In 1964, the liberal Eastern Establishment's so-called "kingmakers," figuring that the nomination was scarcely worth having against an ebullient, efficient L.B.J., crumbled after putting up a feeble fight against Goldwater. By their reasoning, it was as good a time as any to exorcise the right wing's dream that it could sweep the nation by offering voters "a choice, not an echo." So disastrous was the result that the moderates are unlikely to risk relinquishing the nomination to the conservative wing again without a bruising battle.

Unseating an incumbent President is a formidable challenge, but even so, some newly confident G.O.P. leaders think that the party will prove equal to the task. And who knows—given such volatile ingredients as Viet Nam, the racial crisis, the uncertain economy and the volcanic personality of Lyndon B. Johnson? "The next convention," said an Iowa Republican, "is going to be looking for a man to win an election, not just someone to run a race."