OHIO: Waiting for the Bolt

Political lightning in Ohio is a fairly predictable factor. Last week Buckeye Republicans were almost certain that the man who will be illumined by the big G.O.P. bolt in next week's gubernatorial primaries is low-voltage incumbent C. (for nothing) William O'Neill, who is mending political fences and spending $750,000,000 for such public works as highways and mental hospitals. But standing by in case lightning turns fickle is Cincinnati Councilman Charles Phelps Taft, 60, brother of the late Senator Robert Alphonso Taft. Charlie Taft filed as a last-minute fill-in candidate when O'Neill suffered a winter heart attack (TIME, Feb. 10). But when the governor recovered and asked him to withdraw, Taft refused. Instead, he promised to do no campaigning beyond the confines of his own Hamilton County and thereby touched off one of the state's odder political campaigns.

Lawyer Taft's explanation was that his taciturn tactics were aimed not at O'Neill but at Hamilton County G.O.P. regulars with whom he has intermittently sparred since a Taft-led 1924 reform government took over Cincinnati, with reform-minded Charlie Taft later becoming county attorney. When Taft filed for governor, the county organization ordered a rousing anti-Taft vote "to show what Hamilton County Republicans really think of Charles P. Taft." To show what he really thought of the organization and presumably to protect his prestige in future elections, seven-term Councilman and Mayor (1955-57) Taft mailed 3,000 vote-seeking letters to city Republicans. Inevitably, the feud spread beyond Cincinnati. Anti-organization Republicans have taken up pens, are boosting Charlie and the Taft name by mail in Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown and other big vote centers. They do not expect to win the nomination, but a big Taft vote could hurt O'Neill's prestige in the general election.