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Percy's Purge. He had a long way to go. Barry Goldwater was the clear presidential choice of Illinois Republicans, and Barry's backers were suspicious of progressive-minded Chuck Percy. Leading in the campaign was amiable, conservative Secretary of State Charles Carpentier. But last January Carpentier suffered a heart attack; in April he died at age 67. Into the race swept State Treasurer William Scott, 37, a strong Goldwater supporter, who accused Percy of everything, from being in cahoots with Chicago mobsters to being soft on Communism. To blunt the charge that he was anti-Goldwater. Percy, for his part, publicly pledged that at the G.O.P. National Convention he would vote with the majority of the Illinois delegation—for Barry. On primary day last April, Percy swamped Scott.
He immediately set about proving that though he might be a do-gooder, he could play rough-and-tumble politics with the best—and against the worst—of them. The balance of power in Illinois' closely divided state house of representatives has long been held by a handful of Republicans from Chicago's West Side who actually owe their political allegiance to the city's Democratic Mayor Richard Daley. Among other things, the members of the so-called "West Side Bloc," both Republican and Democratic, were notorious for voting against anti-crime legislation.
Gubernatorial Nominee Percy wanted to rid his party of its West Side Blocmen. He saw his chance in an astonishing political situation. Owing to self-defeating political maneuvers, Illinois did not redraw its house districts as required by the state constitution. Thus candidates for all 177 house seats this year must run in a statewide, at-large election. Both Democrats and Republicans have nominated only 118 candidates for those seats, so that neither party will be able to elect more than a two-thirds majority.
Since Illinois' paper ballots will be about the size of a bed sheet, the situation strongly favors straight-ticket voting, and it is conceivable that the winning party will send to Springfield its entire slate of candidates. Percy wanted the Republican slate to be a clean one —which meant, at the very least, purging the West Side Blocmen. And at a state G.O.P. convention in June, he all but read the undesirables out of the party. Rarely have such howls been heard. "You may be dynamic, Mr. Percy," cried one purgee, "but you'd better learn how to aim the dynamite!" Warned another: "You who execute me today will never wash the blood off your hands!" But the purge proceeded successfully.
Fumbles. That freed Percy to turn his fulltime attention and limitless energies to his campaign against Democratic Governor Otto Kerner, 56, a handsome, likable man who was hand-picked by Chicago's Boss Daley. As Governor since 1960, Kerner has a good record on civil rights, can point to advances in the field of mental health, savings in Illinois' huge public-aid expenditures. But he has fumbled badly in efforts to reform Illinois' archaic tax structure, and not even his fellow Democrats would accuse him of being a dynamic leader. Said onetime Chicago Boss Jake Arvey recently in an unguarded moment: "Otto Kerner is an awful nice fellow, but I do wish he had some of Chuck Percy's brains."