New York: Running Away from Them

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The very day that he announced that he would try this year for election as mayor of New York City, Republican Congressman John Lindsay started running like mad. The only thing is, he has spent most of his time running away from practically every Republican in sight.

Last week, in his first visit to his Washington office in two weeks, Lindsay, 43, was asked by newsmen whether he intended to run as a Republican.

"I'm running as Lindsay," he replied.

He said he was "leaning very strongly to selecting a Democrat on the ticket" to run for comptroller or city council president, and might even pick Democrats for both posts. Though the G.O.P. maintains headquarters in all of the city's assembly districts, Lindsay said that he hoped to set up independent campaign offices with no Republican identification.

Did Lindsay want help, financial or otherwise, from Republican National Committee Chairman Ray Bliss? "No," Lindsay answered. "This is a city matter." His reply wrenched a pun from New York's three-term Democratic Mayor Robert F. Wagner, who chortled, "It looks as though Mr. Lindsay is afraid of being Blisskrieged."

Lindsay also was asked if he would welcome support from Dwight Eisenhower. "I'd like to fight it out alone," said Lindsay. "I don't think the public will vote for me simply because a distinguished person says they should." It somehow seemed odd that a rather junior Congressman should be turning down aid that even a Democratic President of the U.S. does not hesitate to enlist: rarely does a week go by that Lyndon Johnson does not consult Ike either by telephone or by White House emissary.

Though G.O.P. county committeemen gave Lindsay their formal endorsement by acclamation at a meeting in Brooklyn's faded Hotel St. George last week, his headlong flight from the party label irked many regulars. The reason for Lindsay's desire to dissociate himself from the Republican Party lay, of course, in New York City's registration figures: 2,378,000 Democrats to 698,000 Republicans. It is perfectly obvious that to win he will need the votes of many Democrats, disenchanted with Wagner and enchanted with him. But it would seem equally obvious that he should not be going out of his way to throw away Republican votes.