The End of Silence

According to everyone except Dean Burch, William Miller, and Barry Goldwater, President Johnson will sweep to an unprecedented victory in today's election unless he runs afoul of some of the perplexing imponderables of the campaign. Will a significant, as yet hidden, conservative bloc creep from under the rocks to cast their ballots for the Republican candidate? Will Johnson devotees, their eyes glazed by astounding poll results, neglect to visit the voting booth and put down a mark for their man? Will moderate Republicans, fearful of giving Johnson too sizeable a mandate, vote instead for his opponent in a reverse protest?

Even if the polls are not entirely accurate, Johnson will probably command more than the 57 per cent of the vote that Dwight Eisenhower won in 1956. Dr. Gallup, for one, tells us to expect a 64-36 Johnson victory, noting that this is the same margin which prevailed following the Democratic convention. But it doesn't take a public opinion researcher to tell us that nothing has happened in the Presidential race; both parties seem to be hanging on, hoping for the end. In fact, the charge that the campaign has swallowed up any interest in a sea of platitude has itself become an enervating cliche.

Only tonight, when the country glows with a Whitmanesque (albeit television induced) unity, fascinated and awed by its collective power, will the excitement return and the shackles come off. Only then can we escape from the eerie, silent world of the past two months--can we begin to debate and criticize and think about the future once again.