A successful political campaign is part light and part reflection. A candidate can work himself into a bright glow, but he must also get a bounceback of enthusiasm from his audience. Last week Ike Eisenhower's bounceback was dim.
The trouble came mostly from Republicans who have been in opposition so long that they fall naturally into critical attitudes. Early in the week, the 19 newspapers of the Scripps-Howard chain, in a front-page editorial headlined: IKE, WHEN DO WE START?, clamored for a fighting attack on the Truman Administration. "Ike," said the editorial, "is running like a dry creek."
In Maine, the...