National Affairs: Wind from the North

• Share

Alaskan politics seldom seem to bear much relation to the politics of the nation at large. The territory's isolated citizenry cannot vote for President, are entitled to send only a non-voting delegate to Congress, and must put up with governors appointed by the White House. Nevertheless, the Alaskan vote, cast before the rest of the national ballots in a presidential year, has accurately anticipated national political trends over the last 20 years.

Last week Democratic Alaska veered toward the G.O.P. It reelected, for the fourth time, Democratic Delegate Bob Bartlett, a conscientious and friendly Juneau politico. But Bartlett, who had a 4-to-1 edge last time, won this year by a margin of only 4 to 3 over Republican Bob Reeve, a bluff and hearty Anchorage bush pilot who flew north in his own DC-3 to canvass the "canoe vote." The Democrats lost control of the territorial legislature: the G.O.P., which had won only 5 out of 24 seats in the 1948 election, grabbed 21 out of 24 last week, plus six of the nine seats at stake in the territorial senate.

Just what all this augured—if anything —for Ike or Adlai was hard to say, but Alaska Republicans were fondly certain they had started a snowslide for the G.O.P.