New York: How Long Are the Coattails?

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Even among the 20 states where a voter can pick everyone from President to dogcatcher with a single X or one tug on a lever,* several boast long ticket-splitting traditions. In Michigan, Democratic Governor "Soapy" Williams was re-elected by 290,000 votes in 1956 while Ike carried the state by more than 350,000; this year that tradition bodes well for Republican Governor George Romney. Pennsylvania's voters elected Republican Bill Scranton Governor by 486,291 votes in 1962 but also re-elected liberal Democratic Senator Joe Clark by 103,734; hard-pressed Republican Senator Hugh Scott hopes that there will be as much ticket splitting this election.

Born Politician. In New York, the man faced with the formidable task of persuading hordes of voters to split their ticket is one of the friendliest men in U.S. political life. An inveterate joiner, Ken Keating is a Moose, Eagle, Elk, Shriner, 33rd-Degree Mason, Kiwanian, Legionnaire, Veteran of Foreign Wars and, through his mother's side of the family, a Son of the American Revolution. At 5 ft. 9½ in. and 165 lbs., Keating looks every inch a Senator. His magnificent mane of white hair is the most convincing symbol of senatorial dignity since Borah's stately mien. That, together with his ruddy complexion, cultivated under a sun lamp, gives him a kindly, grandfatherly air. He is, in fact, the doting grandfather of the children of his daughter, Mrs. Judith Howe, who lives in Manhattan. Keating's wife, an invalid since 1949 with multiple sclerosis, lives in Rochester.

Just barely a man of this century, Keating was born May 18, 1900, in the upstate hamlet of Lima, near Rochester. His family followed politics closely. "Grandmother Barnard was 991 when she died in her rocking chair," he says. "She was reading about politics in the paper."

Give the Boy a Chance. His mother, an intense, scholarly high school language teacher, taught Ken to read at three. At 15, he graduated from Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, won $15 on commencement day for an oration titled, "Give the Boy a Chance." He made Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Rochester, taught high school Latin for a year after graduating at 19, then got a law degree at Harvard and launched a successful career in Rochester. He was in both World Wars, wound up a sergeant in the first and a colonel in the second, after serving as an administrative officer in the China-Burma-India theater. He is now a reserve brigadier general.

Elected to Congress in 1946, Keating lost no time establishing himself as a loquacious legislator of wide-ranging interests. With what seemed like impertinent haste to older House members, he delivered his maiden speech less than a month after his swearing-in, has rarely stopped talking since. He voted conservatively on most economic questions, but his growing interest in issues such as civil rights, immigration and Israel marked him as a man who seemed to be aiming for higher office.