Republicans Can Gain but Cannot Win Control
Although 34 U.S. Senators will be elected next month,* the Democrats are certain to retain control of the Senate for at least two years. It is mathematically possible but politically inconceivable for the G.O.P. to take over. Ten of the Senate seats are Southern and automatically Democratic (Georgia's Richard Russell and South Carolina's Strom Thurmond are running unopposed). In six other states—Alaska, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma—the Democratic candidates are so far ahead that only a Nixon landslide could beat them. The Republicans are shoo-in favorites in two states— New Hampshire and Nebraska. The real fights are for these 16 slots:
Colorado. Republican Gordon Allott, the incumbent, walks the sidewalks with his right hand at the alert for every passerby. His Democratic opponent, chunky Lieutenant Governor Robert Knous, son of a former Governor and federal judge, is campaigning strenuously on a far-out liberal platform. Allott holds a breathless lead, but the race is wide open, could be decided by the Nixon-Kennedy results.
Delaware. Political touts size up the race between Incumbent J. Allen Frear Jr., conservative Democrat, and Governor Caleb Boggs, moderate Republican, as fifty-fifty, although a successful Democratic registration drive has the G.O.P. worried.
Idaho. Republican Henry Dworshak is almost home free for a fourth election, but Democrats cling to a slim hope that Bob McLaughlin, their attractive, aggressive young candidate, may yet turn out to be a sleeper.
Kansas. White-thatched Andy Schoeppel, 65, seeking his third Senate term, has backslapped his way through the state to hold an edge over Frank Theis, 49, a humorless lawyer and a Democratic Party bigwig. Despite a lackluster record, Schoeppel has a way with Kansas voters ("He just looks like a Senator").
Kentucky. In a dark and bloody ground of national political contention, Kentuckians are paying much more attention to the presidential race than to their own drab Senate campaign between Incumbent John Sherman Cooper and former Governor Keen Johnson. Able Republican Cooper, onetime U.S. Ambassador to India, is probably more liberal than his challenger. Johnson, a prominent businessman (vice president of Reynolds Metals), is locally famed for his frugality: as Governor (1939-43), he ran a tight treasury, spent less than the legislature allotted, liquidated the state debt and ran up a surplus of $10 million. Cooper is ahead.
Maine. The Democrats lead in every major event but the all-girl Senate race. Incumbent Margaret Chase Smith has come up fast, with a ladylike, personal-touch campaign, is outdistancing her Democratic rival, Lucia Cormier (TIME cover, Sept. 5), who sticks stolidly to peace and security, aid to education and other national issues.