POLITICAL NOTES: Once More with Feeling?

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Despite his promise to South Dakota voters during his Senate re-election campaign last year that he would not be a candidate for the presidency in 1976, George McGovern may be having second thoughts. In May, McGovern held a five-hour private meeting with several advisers and aides to explore the question of whether or not he should become a candidate. The group's conclusion: he should not, at least for the moment. But other urges appear to be driving the Senator, who two weeks ago sent a "personal and confidential" letter to about 50 friends and former backers, asking for their comments on three options he felt were now open to him: declaring his candidacy, endorsing the candidacy of another liberal, or issuing a statement indicating which of the announced Democratic candidates "is unacceptable" to him.

Though the letters added that "as things stand now I do not intend to be a candidate," McGovern is known to have the presidential itch. Some of his friends say he firmly believes that the "duty tricks" and other campaign irregularities of the Nixon forces cost him the race, a contention most political analysts find plainly irrational; they maintain that, shoddy tactics aside, Richard Nixon still would have won handily. What are McGovern's chances, should he decide to declare? In a recent private poll, McGovern, according to one party insider, does "very poorly." A Harris poll in June, which presented Democrats and Independents with 23 possible nominees, had McGovern ending up a poor sixth.