Down for the Count

In Republican Nebraska, the idea of a Democratic Governor seemed almost incredible. And to two-term Republican Governor Victor Anderson, 56, the idea of losing to Democrat Ralph Brooks, 60, superintendent of schools at McCook and president of McCook College, seemed completely incredible: Brooks began dabbling at politics in the early 1940s, had since become noted only for his fast-talking style (he was once clocked at 487 words in one minute) and for a speech titled "Nebraska" that he delivered more than 300 times. Last week, in fact, after the official count of the 1958 election showed that Nebraska's farm revolt had given Brooks 211,424 votes to Anderson's 209,869, Anderson still refused to believe it: he raised the $20,000 necessary for a re-count which, by otherwise general agreement, will end up with Nebraska's still having elected Ralph Brooks as its first Democratic Governor in 18 years.

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