National Affairs: Decision in Texas

After last July’s Texas Democratic primary election, there was hardly a political seer in the state who did not see the doors of the governor’s mansion in Austin swinging wide open for quiet, conservative U.S. Senator Price Daniel. Home from Washington to run for the job he had always wanted, he easily outdistanced five other hopefuls, led his nearest opponent, oft-defeated Austin Attorney Ralph Yarborough, by 165,000 (TIME, Aug. 6). But Daniel did not get a majority of the votes, was forced into a runoff primary with Yarborough, and that was a different story. Yarborough picked up support from the candidates who had fallen in the first primary; after a wild race to the wire, Daniel won by only one-fourth of 1% of the total vote, 698,187 to 694,844.

However small, the victory margin opened the door to the governorship for Daniel, who will face only token Republican opposition in November. He is expected to resign his Senate seat some time between the general election and his January inauguration, in which case his successor will be picked in a singleshot, leader-take-all special election. Already a declared Senate candidate and the early favorite: ultraconservative, Red-chasing Congressman at Large Martin Dies. Likely to give Dies his toughest competition: Ralph Yarborough.