National Affairs: Squirrel Prey

In sunny California, some rain is always falling into the lives of Democrats. Last month the party's high command in Washington decided to raise an umbrella over the longtime split between the party's left wing, led by James Roosevelt, and its right wing, led by wealthy Rancher E. George Luckey. Beneath the umbrella, veteran Congressman Harry Sheppard put together a 76-member slate of "regular" delegates to the national convention, fusing the left and the right. They were held together by Sheppard's firm promise that Harry Truman would stay in California's June 3 primary, even if he decided not to run for reelection.

Last week, after Estes Kefauver knocked him down in New Hampshire, Harry Truman abruptly pulled out of the California race, where he would have faced Coonskin Estes again. The orphaned Truman delegation began looking for another candidate. Illinois' Governor Adlai Stevenson seemed a good possibility, but he wouldn't step in. Former Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas offered to run as a favorite daughter, but Luckey's conservative element wouldn't accept her—too leftwing. The motley 76 finally agreed that they couldn't agree on any candidate. Sadly, they wandered off in different directions, looking for candidates. A "Democrats-for-Eisenhower" delegation was being discussed.

Grinning across the fence was the delegation of Democrats running behind Estes Kefauver. The regulars had scornfully tagged them "political bastards." Now, it looks as if the 76 Kefauver delegates will go to the convention, and also name the new national committeeman and committeewoman for California.

It was a bitter blow for National Committeeman Roosevelt, who backed General Eisenhower and tried to ditch Truman in 1948, got let down by Truman in 1952. Nothing seemed to be going right for him. Before the week was out, a squirrel ran up his pants leg and bit his right thigh. Moaned Jimmy, after a nurse at the Beverly Hills emergency hospital cauterized the wound: "It seems things are getting tougher for Democrats—all over."