(6 of 10)
Taft is Ivy League, Metzenbaum Big Ten. Because a Cleveland tennis club would not admit Jews, Metzenbaum built his own tennis court. Where Taft is reticent, Metzenbaum is outgoing. Each won narrow primary victories over opponents who are now giving them only pro forma support.
Both men have suffered during the campaign from matters beyond their control. His own integrity is unquestioned, but Taft must run on a Republican ticket with three candidates who have been tarnished in a state-loan scandal. Though most experts give Taft a slight edge, the candidate himself has wondered privately how many voters, outraged by the Republican scandals, will search out his name—which appears seventh on the ballot—and how many will simply pull the Democratic lever.
Metzenbaum incurred a less serious setback last week when he lost his temper over a question by a radio newsman. The reporter asked Metzenbaum if he had helped to organize a social sciences school in Cleveland in the '40s that had later been declared Red-tinged. The candidate exploded, shouting, "I don't owe the citizens of the state any explanation!" and hinting that the newsman had been prompted to ask the question by the Ku Klux Klan. The outburst raised a question not of Metzenbaum's patriotism but of his control over his emotions.
If Taft, a slight favorite, wins, he will take over the seat of an anti-Nixon liberal Democrat, Stephen Young, retiring at age 81.
ILLINOIS. "If his name was Ralph Smith," fumed Ralph Smith, "he wouldn't be the nominee." His name is not Ralph Smith. It is Adlai Stevenson III and he is the nominee. In Illinois, where his father was Governor before becoming an engaging loser of two presidential campaigns, "Young Adlai" holds a solid lead over Republican Senator Ralph Smith. The shopworn dynast charge did not energize Stevenson's once listless, now bustling campaign, but other Smith allegations did. On television, Smith commercials featured doomsday music and a sepulchral voice demanding, "What has Adlai got against the Chicago police and the FBI?" Stung, Stevenson counterattacked with un-Stevensonian ferocity: "I would not accuse President Nixon of being soft on crime just because campus violence has risen to a high since he took office."
Smith, who began using his middle name, Tyler, soon after his appointment to the Senate (few Illinoisans could keep in mind who plain Ralph Smith was) is well-financed, gregarious, a more polished platform performer than Stevenson. Nixon and Agnew and twelve Republican Senators have been to Illinois to scrounge dollars and votes for him. Their money harvest has been bountiful; Smith will outspend Stevenson by an estimated 3 to 1.
But Stevenson, supported by powerful Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a convert to his cause, leads in the polls, running well even in heavily Republican suburbs.