Nation: A More Substantial Somebody

Because Richard Nixon is becoming an ever more substantial somebody, there was some movement toward his camp from other factions of the G.O.P. Alaska Governor Walter Hickel, who has described himself as a Rockefeller Republican, accepted the Western states' co-chairmanship of the Nixon organization. Massachusetts Representative Bradford Morse, a founder of the liberal Republican Wednesday Group, said he, too, was enlisting. "This idea that Nixon is a Goldwater conservative is ridiculous," said Morse. "Nixon is a moderate." In Minnesota, where Rockefeller was previously regarded as relatively strong, G.O.P. Chairman George Thiss predicted that Nixon now would carry most of the local conventions this month "without incident."

Nixon's greatest boost came from the Gallup poll, which has been matching Nixon against Lyndon Johnson and George Wallace. In the latest round, Nixon got 41%, Johnson 39%, and Wallace 14%—the first time Nixon has led in this trial heat in the 17 months that Gallup has conducted it. As further evidence of Nixon's vote-getting ability, his headquarters distributed an analysis of the New Hampshire primary showing that 1) Nixon's total of 80,666 was the largest ever received by one candidate in a Granite State primary, and greater than the combined vote of all others this year, and 2) on the Democratic side, where both Nixon and Rockefeller received write-in votes, Nixon bested the New York Governor by better than 10 to 1.