Nation: WALLACE'S ARMY: THE COALITION OF FRUSTRATION

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of them will he hurt more? Strategists for both parties would dearly like to know, though at the moment Nixon's lead appears so commanding that even a large Wallace vote may not affect the outcome. Certainly Nixon could count on most of the Southern states if Wallace had sat this year out. Certainly Humphrey could depend on union support in big industrial states if Wallace were not in the race. "Originally," says Al Cella, Humphrey's chairman in Massachusetts, "the assessment was that Wallace would not cause much harm because this is a 'Democratic' state. That view has changed. Humphrey is in very serious trouble here."

Two-Way Wash?

In the big states, many suburban and rural conservatives, certain Nixon people in any other year, are choosing Wallace in 1968. In New York, Wallace thus seems to hurt both parties about equally. Nixon believes that this holds true for the country at large; the Wallace vote, in his view, comes down to a "wash" for both parties. No one likes to contemplate what would happen if Wallace won enough states on his own to deny either of the other candidates a clear majority of 270 votes in the Electoral College. Though this is still highly unlikely, Wallace nonetheless constitutes a very real threat to the stability of the electoral process and indeed the future of the two-party system. If he does prevent both Nixon and Humphrey from gaining a majority, he might bestow his electoral votes on his preferred candidate and claim that he picked the President.

An end to the dominance of the two parties is, of course, his goal. A good part of his stock speech is an attack on the Democratic and Republican parties —with both given equal time and tirade. At some point, Wallace always notes that "both national parties have looked down their noses and called us rednecks—and I'm sick and tired of it." At another point, he declares that "both national parties ought to be for law and order. They took it away from you by kowtowing to anarchists." He adds: "There's not a dime's worth of difference between either of them."

What the Show Is Like

A combination of revivalist rally and Southern medicine show, Wallace's campaign is a curious blend of the old, old politics and the brand-new. It is certainly livelier than either of the other candidates'. To open a rally, there is "Sam Smith and His American Independent Party Band," a small combo with electrified instruments that churns out Nashville-style country music and leads the audience in a slow rendition of God Bless America. Then on come the Taylor Sisters, Mona and Lisa, two seasoned blondes who harmonize a couple of toe-tapping standards and belt out an anthem entitled Are You for Wallace? (to the tune of Are You from Dixie?).

Occasionally there are variations. A few weeks ago in Dallas, a white-haired, grandmotherly woman paraded around the hall in an ante-bellum dress of red, white and blue. In one hand she held the Stars and Stripes, in the other the Stars and Bars. She was greeted with cheers. There is even a George Wallace Waltz (copyright by Lyle Woodruff):

Stand up for America, red, white

and blue,

And vote for George Wallace,

he's fighting for you.

He will scatter the Commies and

pseudos like sheep;

So dance