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For Watergate-weary voters, such a question was bound to evoke unhappy comparisons. The tax issue cut deeply into Metzenbaum's support, even among the labor unions, where it was strongest in 1970. "Our people at the plants are puking over that tax business," said Arch Little, executive secretary of the Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO Council. Washington Pollster Peter Hart, who took surveys for Glenn, found that 43% of those polled thought Glenn was the more honest of the two candidates, while only 11% thought Metzenbaum was. "In essence, that was the ball game," said Hart. Metzenbaum, who will almost certainly support Glenn in the upcoming race, is disillusioned about the low tone of the campaign and sees his defeat as a dreary portent: "We're going to lose some good politicians because of Watergate. The price of being in politics today is just too damn high."
Elsewhere, however, Watergate seemed to have no special effect, though it may have contributed to the poor turnouts in Indiana and Texas. Local issues and personalities rather than national trends determined the outcomes. As usual, nearly all incumbent Congressmen seeking renomination were successful. Other noteworthy primary results:
> In Alabama, Governor George Wallace, 54, easily defeated four rivals, including his wife Cornelia's uncle, former Governor James E. ("Kissin' Jim") Folsom, 65, to win the Democratic nomination for an unprecedented third four-year term. The paralysis that has confined Wallace to a wheelchair since the attempt on his life two years ago was apparently no political handicap: he got more than 65% of the vote, the biggest sweep in an Alabama primary since 1920. He carried 66 of the state's 67 counties and received surprisingly strong support from blacks, whom he seriously courted for the first time in his political career. He is still coy about his plans for 1976, but it is clear that Wallace intends once again to use the Governor's mansion in Montgomery as a base for his quadrennial foray into presidential politics.
> In Texas, Governor Dolph Briscoe's landslide victory in the Democratic gubernatorial primary probably assures him of a second term and may have ended the political career of his rival, Frances T. ("Sissy") Farenthold. A multimillionaire rancher and banker, Briscoe, 52, ran on a bland, conservative record and a boast of having avoided new state taxes last year. He surprised even himself by rolling up 68% of the unusually light vote (less than one-fourth of those eligible) and swamping Farenthold, 47, a reform-minded liberal who is the national chairwoman of the Women's Political Caucus. Farenthold was a strong competitor in the primary two years ago, but this time she was hampered by lack of funds, and her campaign never caught fire. She is currently still running for office—alumna trustee of Vassar College —but has not decided on her future political plans in Texas.