Politics: At Issue: Viet Nam

"As I looked at the potential senatorial candidates, I saw no one prepared to speak for the national interest." The words were those of a reluctant candidate in a state primary election, but they expressed a national need. And on this basis Oregon Congressman Robert B. Duncan, 45, decided to run in last week's Democratic primary to choose a candidate to fill Maurine Neuberger's U.S. Senate seat. The election thus came as close as any so far to being a referendum on the Viet Nam war.

In supporting the Johnson Administration's Viet Nam position, Duncan restated some pretty plain truths. He pointed out that U.S. policy since the end of World War II has been the containment of Communism. "We're not out to police the world," he said. "We did nothing in Tibet or Hungary, but we are now in a critical stage for the free world. This is a period of overall strife. Although some people describe Viet Nam as an isolated incident, it is not. It is part of a whole."

Hot & Cold. The nominal primary opposition was Howard Morgan, 52, former Democratic state chairman and an outright critic of the U.S. war effort. But in making the race, Duncan was also taking on Oregon's Senator Wayne Morse, the Administration's most virulent Viet Nam foe, and Oregon's Governor Mark Hatfield, the Republican candidate for the Neuberger Senate seat and a hot-and-cold-running critic of the war. To Morse, the war is "immoral and illegal." To Hatfield, the Administration's policies are bringing "neither victory nor solution."

As in any election, there was not just one issue; Duncan had other things going for him. A vibrant, crew-cut lawyer, he has put himself over as a colorful, forceful fellow during his two terms in Congress. A former seaman, he still enjoys a pinch of chewing tobacco, proudly wears Duncan tartan ties. He often reminds himself of appointments by jotting notations on the palm of his hand ("If I write myself notes, I lose them"), keeps on scrawling right up his arm when his schedule gets really busy. Morgan, a wealthy cattle rancher and construction executive who was a Kennedy appointee to the Federal Power Commission, seemed drab by comparison.

Hardly Overjoyed. Though maintaining a prudent distance, the Johnson Administration made no secret of its preference for Duncan. And when Oregonians went to the polls, the President sweated out the results at the White House until 3 a.m. He went to bed pleased. In a victory of almost 2-to-l proportions (159,097 to 88,473), Duncan plainly demonstrated that supporting the war can be a political asset.