The Nation: Wallace Trouble in Dixie

On the stump, George Wallace insists that he is not a regional candidate. Several Southern Democratic leaders are dedicated to proving, at least, that he is not their regional candidate.

Most bravely outspoken among them is Terry Sanford, 54, ex-Governor of North Carolina who is now the president of Duke University. Last month he became a surprise entry in the May 6 North Carolina primary because, says one of his aides, "he couldn't stand the thought of a Wallace victory in his home state—and figured that nobody but Terry Sanford could beat the guy."

The fight between Sanford the Southern progressive and Wallace the Southern populist is being billed as the "Dixie Classic." To counter the mounting threat posed by Sanford, Wallace last week made a hasty visit to Statesville, N.C., where he figures to capitalize on a school integration controversy that has plagued the city.

Sanford, meanwhile, is busily canvassing up to eight counties a day, setting up "listening posts" to hear the gripes of voters. He tells the North Carolinians that Wallace is a phony populist who does not tax the savings and loan institutions in his home state, that corporate taxes are comparatively low in Alabama and that middle-income citizens carry the brunt of the taxes. Sanford, a champion of civil rights who sent his children to integrated public schools as early as a decade ago, preaches: "While Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door, I was opening the doors to education for everyone."

Though some political cynics dismiss him as a stalking horse for his friend Hubert Humphrey, who is not entered in the North Carolina primary, Sanford swears that he is serious in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Just as seriously, he says that if he loses to Wallace in North Carolina he will drop out of the race and return to the relative quiet of academe.

It could be a close race; polls show Wallace, Sanford and Edmund Muskie far ahead of Shirley Chisholm and Henry Jackson who, like Muskie, is not campaigning in the state though he is on the ballot. On May 6 North Carolina voters will indicate whether, as one national Democratic leader contends, many Southerners "are sick of having the rest of the country think the South is all like George Wallace."