The Campaign

The rolling hills and gentle valleys of Connecticut have been undergoing a steady erosion this fall from the outpourings of hordes of strong-lunges politicians who have been working their way up and down the tiny but populous state. All this frantic activity might seem a bit unwarranted in view of the state's mere eight electoral votes, but there are two contributing factors which explain the unusual amount of attention being paid to Connecticut this fall. For one thing, in the past four years the state has been almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, and the politicians feel that one extra speech may be enough to throw the state either to Eisenhower or Stevenson. Secondly, and perhaps most important, Connecticut this November will be electing two U.S. Senators.

The double senatorial extravaganza is the result of the death this summer of Brian McMahon, Fair-Dealing senator from Norwalk. Running for the four-year term left by the death of McMahon are Democrat A. A. Ribicoff and Republican Prescott Bush. The regular six-year term is being contested by the incumbent Senator William Benton, a Democrat, and William Purtell, Republican. Also after the six-year seat are two splinter-party candidates who, in traditionally close Connecticut contests, may gain enough votes to decide the elections--far right Vivian Kellems and so called Socialist Jasper McLevy.

Of the four major party senatorial candidates Ribicoff at present appears the surest of election. A young Hartford lawyer, in his two terms in Congree Ribicoff has won the admiration of both Democrats and Republicans for his independent voting and his prompt and personal attention to the needs of his constituents. His reward has been an astonishing personal following and a full-length, strongly favorable portrait in The Saturday Evening Post. A good part of Ribbicoff's strength stems from his Jewish ancestry, a potent factor in Hartford which ranks next to New York among American cities in its proportion of Jewish citizens.

Uphill Battle

Pres Bush is fighting an uphill battle against Ribicoff. A Yale graduate and a partner in Brown Brothers Harriman investment firm, he is the darling of Connecticut's large bloc of wealthy, tweedy, Republican voters who abound in Fairfield Country. He has never held an elective office, however, and must also overcome the handicap of being a "bedroom" resident of the state (his home is in Greenwich, but his business is in New York). Ribicoff's backers are incensed because of what they term Bush's anti-Semitic innuendos; he constantly refers to his opponent as "Abraham" or "Abe Ribicoff." The charge is at best a tenuous one.

For the six-year term the Republicans have again nominated a complete neophyte to politics. Bill Purtell has been a businessman all his life and a good one; he is president of the Holo-Krome Screw Company, which, despite the fact that it is non-unionized, has enjoyed admirable labor relations. Purtell's big drawback in industrial Connecticut is the fact that in the years since 1947 he has been both vice-president and president of the Connecticut Association of Manufacturers, an organization which has consistently opposed welfare measures in the state. Bill Benton's speechwriters are working hard on the record of the CAM, and Purtell has been forced to

Bedroom Citizen

Benton himself has been in the Senate since 1950, when he defeated Pres Bush by a minuscule 1,102 votes in a special election. Since then millionaire advertising man Benton has had an almost perfect voting record, so far as labor and the ADA are concerned. His handicaps are a reputation for insincerity and the same "bedroom citizen" tag which is troubling Bush.

In the last weeks of the campaign McCarthyism has become a vital issue in the Purtell-Benton race. For the past two years Benton has been trying to get McCarthy thrown out of the Senate for improper conduct. The Wisconsin senator has retaliated with a libel suit, and a battle-royal has been waged in the newspapers. Since October 15 McCarthy has twice repudiate one of the Association's most reactionary stands made while he was president--its opposition to the federally-subsidized school lunch program. visited Connecticut to lambast Benton in fiery speeches. Purtell, an Irish-Catholic, did not invite McCarthy into the state, but appeared with him on various platforms across the state and has endorsed his fight for re-election in Wisconsin, McCarthy has little following among Connecticut Republicans, and Benton is using the issue for all it is worth.

Because the 1950 senatorial contest was decided by only 1,102 votes, splinter candidates Kellems and McLevy probably hold the balance of power in the Benton-Purtell race. Kellems, a manufacturer who has been waging a one-woman feud with an oblivious U.S. government, classes herself an Independent Republican and may attract some disgruntled Taftites. The Democrats are more worried about McLevy, however, than the regular Republicans are about Kellems. McLevy is not much of a Socialist, but he's an unbelievably strong party boss in his city of Bridgeport, where he has been mayor for more than ten years.

Predicts Democrats

The presidential race cannot be separated from the startlingly close senatorial contests. Expert Hartford observers are predicting that whichever presidential candidate takes the state will carry in either Purtell or Benton with him. In 1948 Dewey took the state with but 1,000 more than Truman and Wallace combined. This year the Progressive threat is negligible, and the state is basking in the sunny prosperity given to its factories by defense contracts. Unemployment is non-existent. Furthermore, Stevenson has an appeal to the state's comparatively-high number of college graduates that Truman lacked. It's going to be tight in all three races, but the smart, long-odds bet is on a Democratic sweep.