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"Roosevelt Cannot Lose." Like most converts, Huey Long was primed to make more sound for the Democratic nominee than most of the original Roosevelt men. Last January he told Washington newsmen: "Governor Roosevelt wouldn't have a chance with us. He failed with Cox and that should end him." But when he took his hand-picked delegation from Louisiana to Chicago in June, Senator Long had warmed up to the up-warming Roosevelt candidacy. A contest developed against seating the Long delegates. The Senator refused to submit his case to a subcommittee with a few women members.* "No bunch of damned skirts," he snorted, "is going to decide anything affecting me." When the women denounced him as no gentleman, he sent an airplane to Louisiana for his wife, paraded her up & down on his arm "to show these damned skirts I know how to treat a lady." When the Roosevelt forces finally seated the Long contingent, the ''Kingfish," all in white, leaped to his chair, yipped & yowled lustily for himself. After the convention he announced: "With Roosevelt our party cannot lose."
Salesman. A frequent boast of this onetime lard drummer is: "I can sell anybody anything." He "sold" himself as Governor and Senator to the Louisiana electorate. He "sold" them Oscar Kelly ("O. K.") Allen as his successor in the governorship. He "sold" them Representative John Overton as Senator. He "sold" Mrs. Hattie Caraway as Senator to the voters of Arkansas after proclaiming: "I'm here to get a bunch of pot-bellied politicians off this little woman's neck." Now he is ready to join in "selling" Governor Roosevelt to the nation. He may well emerge as the Southern Democrat closest to the White House during the next four years—a national "kingfish."
After he had replaced Senator Broussard with his henchman Overton in last fortnight's primary, Huey Long attended a New Orleans dinner and announced: "I'm leaving State politics for good. I've done all I can for Louisiana; now I want to help the rest of the country. ... If I thought this was going to be just another tweedledee-tweedledum campaign, I'd stay out. But the liberal element is running all over the world and they'll soon be in power in America. When they are, we'll put an end to multimillionaires and bring back prosperity."
Bossed Governor. Packing a revolver in his pocket (he hates fist fights), he climbed into his limousine in front of his $60,000 Audubon Drive home, set out for Baton Rouge. There he marched into Governor Allen's office in the skyscraping State Capitol on the river bluff, sat down in Governor Allen's chair, began to give Governor Allen his political orders. Governor Allen is thoroughly accustomed to being thus bossed. One day during the last legislative session, Senator Long called out roughly: "Oscar, go get me those goddam bills we was talking about." Governor Allen, embarrassed by the presence of others, pretended not to hear. Huey Long howled: "Goddam you, Oscar, don't you stall around with me! I can break you as easy as I made you! Get those goddam bills and get 'em on the jump." Governor Allen got them on the jump.