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When Pierre Salinger speaks, his lips move with the relish of a winetaster and his jowls quiver like jelly in a railroad dining car. He does not use a text, but he ad-libs exceedingly well, having had substantial practice with White House reporters. He spreads his fingers apart, then waves both hands in the air, looking for all the world like a Dutch windmill that has learned how to smoke a cigar.
Pierre Salinger, 39, is the Democratic Senator from California.
When George Murphy speaks, the easy Irish charm of an old-style city ward heeler pours forth. His blue eyes, set off by pink cheeks and carefully coifed, grey-streaked hair, throw a friendly glint. At the slightest sound of applause, Murphy is transported happily back to the heyday, 25 years ago, when he song-and-danced his way across the nation's cinema screens. Then the ham in him surfaces, and he talks and talks and talks until his aides tug at him and tell him it is time to quit.
George Murphy, 62, wants to be the Republican Senator from California.
Bump in the Dark. As the most populous state in the Union (18 million), with 40 electoral votes, California is a crucial battleground in the national political contest. In California, there is no such thing as a political machine; there are only moving parts. California has almost every problem that any other state has, and some that other states never thought of. It is filled with radicals of both the left and the right; its political landscape is alive with sudden shadows, phosphorescent goblins, and things that go bump in the dark. In California, political issues ought to be piled skyhigh. Yet the Salinger-Murphy campaign, typical of so many 1964 contests, rings with no real issues; there is only the battle of personalities and "images."
Last week, for example, Salinger and Murphy engaged in a face-to-face, no-holds-barred TV debate. They set out to tackle the issues. They wound up playing Drop That Name. For a full hour, the exchange went something like this:
Salinger: I have conferred with Secretary of Defense McNamara. I have conferred with Senator Magnuson, the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee ... I had a call this morning from Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall . . .
Murphy: I know, for instance, Senator Dirksen quite well . . . J. Edgar Hoover, and all the rest.
Salinger: As Mr. Romulo told me—you know General Romulo . . .?
Murphy: Very well.
And so it went. In the end, most observers agreed that Murphy had projected himself as a real good guy. That should hardly have been surprising, since he has been playing the role professionally for all of his adult life. What was surprising was that Salinger, who has also gone a long way on a well-deserved reputation as a good guy, came across as a somewhat stuffy sort.