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Under the careful coaching of Rayburn and McCormack, Carl Albert became one of the House's most accomplished nose-counters. Last year, when the White House developed a bad case of jitters over the chances of the depressed areas bill, and began to talk of compromises, Albert surveyed the situation and reported that the bill could be passed without major changes. It was. But when Albert told Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman that the Administration's farm program would have to be rewritten to get through the House, Freeman ignored the advice, and suffered a humiliating House defeat.
Albert's style of leadership is low-pressure. He deplores the sort of backroom bloodletting that has sometimes spattered the records of quick-drawing majority leaders of the past. He approves the Rayburn technique of giving members a loose rein when it comes to difficult votes. "If you whip them into line every time," he says, "by the session's third vote you're through. If you can't win them by persuasion you can't win them at all." On the other hand, Albert is tough enough to demand votes when the outcome is crucial. "Where we've had the tough votes, we try to count them as closely as we can —and have a few spare votes in our pocket," he says. "If a fellow keeps begging off, we tell him that it's his turn to take the heat the next time."
* Bug Tussle's name was later changed to Flowery Mound (pop. 200).