With the U.S. Senate at razor-edge balance between 49 Democrats and 47 Republicans, the success of the Democratic leadership may well depend on the ability of the assistant majority leader, or whip, to cajole Democratic Senators of all hues and persuasions (including the Southern) into following the party line. Last week, casting about for someone to replace Kentucky's defeated Earle Clements as whip, Senate Democrats thought they had found a topnotch prospect: Montana's shy, sharp-featured Senator Mike Mansfield, 53, the heavy favorite to become field commander in charge of carrying out the strategic planning of Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson.
Michael Joseph Mansfield's...
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