Pennsylvania: Candidate ex Machina

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During his uphill struggle for Pennsylvania's Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Millionaire Milton Shapp relied heavily on the man-v.-machine theme—and indeed wound up snatching victory from the organization candidate. In the last days of the general election contest, Shapp's Republican opponent, Lieutenant Governor Raymond Shafer, also found himself fighting a machine—in his case, the television set.

In an all-out effort to offset Shapp's lavishly financed campaign, two of the state's most popular Republicans—Governor William Scranton, who helped nominate Shafer as his successor, and Senator Hugh Scott—have marched up and down the Keystone State on behalf of the G.O.P. candidate. Shafer, doing much energetic footwork himself, has been concentrating on the Scranton administration's creditable record and Pennsylvania's prosperity, accuses Shapp of trying to buy the election. Shapp charges that the state's economy is, in fact, deteriorating, that public utilities get an unfair tax break and that Shafer is the tool of unseen "bosses."

Though he is a political novice, Shapp's campaign has been adroitly planned to reach full momentum just before Nov. 8, with $1,000,000 budgeted for television in the last week alone. Day and night throughout the state, TV stations will be showing new documentary films, Shapp (30 minutes) and Man Against the Odds (15 minutes). Last week the odds were against Shapp.