From Sure to Improbable

The death of Nevada's splenetic old Senator Pat McCarran (TIME, Oct. 11) gave the G.O.P. hopes of an election-year windfall: a sure Senate seat. Republican Governor Charles Russell appointed Reno Attorney Ernest Brown to replace Democrat McCarran, clearly intended that Brown should finish the last two years of Pat's term. The Democrats, naturally, wanted an election this year.

Last week the Nevada Supreme Court (one Democrat, two Republicans) unanimously decided the legal tangle for the Democrats, ordered the balance of the term (January 1955 to January 1957) filled at next month's election. Brown will have to run against former State Attorney General Alan Bible, a friend and protege of McCarran who was whipped in the 1952 senatorial primary by Political Amateur Tom Mechling. Mechling, in turn, was beaten by G.O.P. Senator George ("Molly") Malone, who in Nevada's strange and shifting political alliances had the backing of Democrat McCarran. The probability this year is that, with the Democrats united, Bible will win.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.