Republicans: Avoiding the Dewey Syndrome

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Haunted by the memory of 1960, Richard Nixon long ago determined to stop at some point in the 1968 campaign for a final stock taking. What was being done wrong? What could be done better? Last week his advisers from all over the country converged on Key Biscayne, Fla., for such an inventory and came up with a startling conclusion: Nothing was wrong, and hardly anything could be done better.*

Even so, no one at the top of Nixon's campaign organization appears susceptible to the much feared Dewey Syndrome of overconfidence. Indeed, the word from Biscayne Bay was to push even harder in what Nixon calls "Operation Extra Effort" or a "three-week blitz." Placing unprecedented emphasis on electronic campaigning, Nixon will buy ten quarter hours of network radio, take an hour of prime-time TV for a rally at Madison Square Garden Oct. 31, and purchase four full hours of prime time for a TV telethon from Los Angeles on election eve (two hours for the East, two for the West).

Monster in the Woods. There is only one thing that worries the Nixon people now—the imponderable Wallace Factor. "You look at this Wallace thing," says one close adviser. "It's like sitting by the campfire knowing there's a monster out there in the woods. But you don't know how big it is." The nagging anxiety is that there may be hidden Wallace supporters who are ashamed enough of their vote to shy away from pollsters, but who are not ashamed enough to shy away from the polling booths. "We can't be sure the polls are picking up all his strength," remarks one adviser. The opposite, of course, could also be true; many people who now say they are for Wallace might, when faced with the thought of "President Wallace," revert to their original party loyalties.

For a long time Nixon publicly ignored Wallace, reasoning that any notice he gave him would only boost the Alabamian's prestige. Now he attacks Wallace directly, reminding his listeners that Wallace could put Humphrey into the White House by taking potential votes away from the Republicans.

Nixon still heavily stresses the law-and-order issue. Unless he is elected, he said last week, the number of crimes will double in the next four years. But in Boston, where he canceled an open meeting because of the fear of hecklers, he deplored the "hate" vote. He said: "Simply to allow the American people to vent that hatred as they vote for Nixon—to do so because they are voting against somebody else—that isn't enough. We don't want to win it that way."