THE PRIMARIES: Straws in the Wind

That expensive straw ballot, the presidential primary, last week added more wisps to the political winds:

¶In Massachusetts, House Majority Leader John McCormack got 28,500 write-in votes to 19,500 for Adlai Stevenson. Before the election, Estes Kefauver, who had not campaigned in the state, and had little visible support there, piously asked his "supporters" to vote for popular John McCormack, but Estes could certainly claim no share of the victory. On the Republican side, Dwight Eisenhower won 52,400 write-in votes and the support of all delegates. The biggest straw: John McCormack is more popular than Adlai Stevenson in Massachusetts, and Eisenhower is more popular than either.

¶In Pennsylvania, Adlai Stevenson, supported by all top Democratic leaders, and unopposed on the Democratic ballot, got 627,000 votes to 37,000 write-ins for Kefauver. On the Republican ballot, Ike got 925,000 votes to 43,000 for California's Senator William Knowland. Ike outran Stevenson even in Philadelphia (which went heavily Democratic in 1952). The straw: Eisenhower over Stevenson, in Pennsylvania.

¶In Alaska, with returns still coming in by bush plane from isolated districts, Stevenson led Kefauver by 5,900 to 3,700 and cinched Alaska's six convention votes. Collecting more votes than either Democrat was Republican Eisenhower, even though his Administration was supposedly in bad odor because Ike had opposed immediate Alaskan statehood. The straw: In Alaska, at least, the Administration's territorial and conservation policies are not nearly as unpopular as the Democrats have cracked them up to be.