Ifs in Oregon

As Oregon's Wayne Morse flew home from Washington last week to be guest of honor and chief speaker at the Democrats' Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in Portland, a political rumor whooshed in ahead of him. Its component parts: 1) Independent, ex-Republican Morse, whose term in the Senate does not expire until 1956, will run for Senator in 1954, on the Democratic ticket and against Republican Guy Cordon; 2) if Morse wins, his pull on independent and liberal Republican voters might also sweep a Democratic governor into office; 3) Morse would resign his present Senate seat to take on his new one, and 4) the Democratic governor would appoint a Democrat to fill Morse's unexpired old term. Dreamy objective: a Democratic sweep in Oregon for the first time since 1915.

The record crowd (750) at the Portland banquet waited expectantly, through 30 pages of a Morse speech, to hear the rumor confirmed. But the Senator confined himself to belaboring the Eisenhower Administration and raking the public-power policies of Oregon's No. 1 Republican, Interior Secretary Douglas McKay. The audience cheered most loudly when Morse pledged allegiance to his hosts. "Liberalism in the Republican Party," he declaimed, "is dead. In 1954, I will campaign for the Democrats."

Later, newsmen asked Morse directly about the 1954 rumor. He retorted: "Sheer nonsense." The Democrats' likeliest gubernatorial candidate in 1954, prolific magazine writer and State Senator Richard Neuberger, echoed the sentiment. Said Neuberger: he wanted no part in such "shenanigans" or "politics by gimmick." Besides, he added, "Democrats ought to know a lot more about Morse before welcoming him with open arms."

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