Republicans: Waiting Game

In the mile-high valley beneath Wyoming's Teton Range, the nation's Republican Governors assembled last week for a conference that was expected to have considerable bearing on the 1968 nominating convention. Representing half the states, with well over half the population and convention delegates, the Governors, had they been united, could have virtually locked up next summer's nomination. But they fell far short of agreement on anything except that it was too early to unite behind one man.

For the current favorites in the quest for the G.O.P. nomination—Michigan's Governor George Romney and former Vice President Richard Nixon—the meeting at Jackson Lake Lodge was at best a disappointment, at worst a storm signal. Romney's backers wanted the Governors to issue a pronouncement of support for their man, thereby puffing some wind into the sails of his be calmed campaign. No such gust was forthcoming, despite the earnest efforts of New York's Nelson Rockefeller and Rhode Island's John Chafee. Nixon, though undoubtedly relieved by the Governors' failure to rally behind Romney, also had reason to fret. A strong surge of support for California's Governor Ronald Reagan raised the threat that Nixon's conservative backing, the hope of his campaign, was ebbing.

Let George Do It. Aside from Nelson Rockefeller—whose father donated the land for the Jackson Lake resort and whose brother Laurance oversees its operation—the men who were discussed most were not even at the meeting. Nixon was vacationing back East —and observing his self-imposed moratorium on active campaigning. Reagan and Romney were in their respective capitals waging last-minute battles to push big new tax increases through recalcitrant legislatures.

Of the two, Romney fared somewhat better. To help keep his $1.1 billion budget balanced, he got a $270 million tax increase through the legislature, giving Michigan its first income tax. Reagan, meanwhile, had to sign California's biggest budget ever, a $5.1 billion package. Moreover, because the deadline was running out at the end of the fiscal year, he had to do so before the legislature acted on the $1 billion tax increase he requested. Reagan hopes to get the increase through by mid-July.

At Jackson Lake, about the only Romney agent in sight was his wife Lenore, who was seen toting a handbag embroidered with the slogan, LET GEORGE DO IT. Only one Reagan operative was on hand. But F. Clifton White, the upstate New Yorker whose brilliant organizational work was a major factor in Barry Goldwater's 1964 nomination, flew in with several of the men who helped him pull off that coup.

All are believed to lean toward Reagan, not Nixon.

Dead in the Water. Many moderates were concerned by Romney's failure to generate more enthusiasm among G.O.P. professionals, despite his preeminence in the popularity polls. "A lot of us out here simply aren't convinced that Romney is the chosen moderate to lead the party in 1968," said Washington's Governor Daniel Evans. Oregon's Tom McCall, who makes no secret of his admiration for Rockefeller, asked: "What the dickens has happened to Romney's campaign? At the moment, it's lying dead in the water."