Republicans: New Leader

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So far, Henry Cabot Lodge, the U.S. Ambassador to South Viet Nam, has made a city in Southeast Asia a viable—and valuable—seat from which to seek the Republican presidential nomination. For five months, he has not shown his face in the U.S. During that time, he has uttered no public word about politics—and what he said otherwise was usually in defense of the Southeast Asian policies of a Democratic Administration. Yet his absence and his silence have made him the hottest property on the Republican scene.

Last week the Gallup poll reported that Lodge, stuck in Saigon, is the first choice of U.S. Republican voters. This was in sharp contrast to a similar poll taken before Lodge ran away with the New Hampshire primary on March 10. Then Lodge rated a poor third, behind former Vice President Richard Nixon and Arizona's Senator Barry Goldwater. The latest Gallup findings:

Now Early March Lodge 42% 16%

Nixon 26% 34%

Goldwater 14% 17%

Nelson Rockefeller 6% 13%

William Scranton 4% 5%

George Romney 4% 6%

Others 4% 9%

Almost as interesting were the findings of the Field poll in California. Lodge is not even entered in the June 2 primary, and write-in votes are not counted in California. Yet the survey indicated that if California Republicans did have their choice, they would vote like this:

Lodge 31%

Goldwater 25%

Nixon 21%

Rockefeller 12%

Romney 3%

Scranton 3%

Smith 1%

Stassen less than .5%

No choice 4%