Beginner Wins

In the State that the natives call West-By-God Virginia, a machine politico named Matthew Mansfield Neely was licked in his race for the U.S. Senate. New Dealer Neely is a man of furious loves and hates: he likes the New Deal, flashy clothes; hates any West Virginia politico who crosses him. To Matt Neely, in & out of public office since 1908, defeat was bad enough; worse was the fact that it was administered by a handsome, young (47 years old) lawyer making his first political campaign, a Republican upstart with liberal leanings and a storybook name: Chapman Revercomb.

Verbose Matt Neely was a Senator in 1940, with two years to go, when he saw his political machine was beginning to cough and fall apart. So he went home to run for Governor against a Democrat with a comic-book name: H. Guy Kump. He won. Out of State jobs went Kump followers, in went Neely men. This year, satisfied, Matt Neely ran again for Senator.

Reasons for his licking: 1) Kump followers, lusting for revenge, helped Revercomb; 2) C.I.O., which had always helped Matt Neely before, this year remained silent; many coal miners did not vote; 3) a Neely victory, West Virginians knew, would have left the State Governorless until a special election could be held. (West Virginia has no Lieutenant Governor; the State Senate president governs temporarily in the event of a vacancy.)

Defeated Matt Neely still is Governor, will be for two more years. He has plenty of time to put new spark-plugs in his machine, try to get it hitting on all cylinders again.

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