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Less Outlandish. For all of its emotional punch, the Wallace question will be largely academic so long as the gap between Nixon and Humphrey remains as wide as it appears to be now. On present form, Nixon may not need Wallace states in the South. If Humphrey inches forward in the polls, however, Wallace will pose a more serious danger.
The prospect that the election might go to the House—if no candidate wins a majority of electoral votes—remains highly unlikely. But it is less outlandish than it was only a month ago. Leaders of both parties are looking more closely at races for the House, and the Republicans are working extra hard to overcome the present Democratic majority. "There is no reason why I should kid you," Gerald Ford, the G.O.P. leader, told TIME's Neil MacNeil last week. "A lot of us are really worried by the threat of a third party."
The Wallace factor can be overestimated. Many voters who now say they are for Wallace may, as both parties hope, change their minds on Election Day, realizing that a vote for the Alabamian will in fact be wasted. The evidence, however, indicates that Wallace's strength is actually growing, in defiance of all predictions. Even if he dropped out of the race today, George Wallace would still have had a profound, disturbing effect on the 1968 election.