A Cop v. a Grip

During his three terms as Michigan's governor, Gerhard Mennen Williams has steadily tightened his grip on the state and its Democratic Party, despite his troubles with a Republican legislature and the opposition of old-line Democrats, who object to "Soapy" Williams' alliance with Walter Reuther's C.I.O. In last week's primary election, Soapy himself, unopposed for renomination, threw his strength behind Philip A. Hart, his candidate for lieutenant governor. Opposing Hart was ' onetime Democratic National Committeeman George S. Fitzgerald, attorney for Jimmy Hoffa's anti-Williams A.F.L. Teamsters' Union. By a more than 2-1 margin, Soapy Williams' Candidate Hart won. Williams' men also won hotly contested city-council and probate-judgeship races in Detroit.

In the Republican primary, four Republicans vied for the privilege of trying to stop the swelling tide of Governor Williams' popularity and power. The winner: Donald S. (for Sparling) Leonard, 51, a state trooper who rose to be state police commissioner, a post he resigned two years ago to run unsuccessfully for the Republican senatorial nomination. Years ago, Trooper Leonard escorted governors' cars and decided that even a policeman could be governor. When he broke his back in a motorcycle accident while chasing a speeder, he used his convalescence to attend law school. Known as an honest cop and a shrewd fighter, Don Leonard has made thousands of friends throughout Michigan, but few politicians are ready to bet that he can keep Soapy Williams from capturing a fourth term.

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