Republicans: Out of Hibernation

The two principal contenders for the Republican presidential nomination emerged last week from nearly a month of political hibernation. Both chose the same forum: the American Society of Newspaper Editors, meeting in Washington's Shoreham Hotel. Nelson Rockefeller, advertising his "availability" in the first of a series of speeches on national problems, addressed himself to the urban crisis in a half-hour weighty but well reasoned address that left the editors slightly comatose. Richard Nixon, by contrast, sparkled in a relaxed format that mixed stand-up wit with graceful repartee before a panel of four editors. The same editorial audience that clapped...