Ohio Power Play

Like a man sideswiped by a fast car, Ohio's cherubic Governor Mike Di Salle dazedly picked himself up last week and felt around for broken bones. It was hit and run--but no accident. The driver: Presidential Hopeful John F. Kennedy. The verdict: the boldest power play thus far in the 1960 Democratic race.

On Di Salle's invitation, Massachusetts' Senator Kennedy arrived at the executive mansion in Columbus, traveling light without his decorative wife Jackie ("She wanted to come." deadpanned Millionaire Kennedy, "but we couldn't get a baby sitter"). Di Salle hurried him upstairs to a guest bedroom. There they were joined by Ohio Democratic Chairman William L. Coleman and Kennedy's new strategist, Connecticut Democratic Chairman John Bailey, on loan from Connecticut's Ken nedyite Governor Abraham Ribicoff.

Lukewarm Governor. Mike Di Salle plopped into an armchair, draped one hefty leg over the side and, with a trace of anger, said that he was mighty annoyed by a rash of Washington-datelined news stories saying that Kennedy was in Ohio for a showdown and would enter the state's presidential primary next May whether Di Salle liked it or not. Explaining that he hoped to avoid a party-splitting primary fight, Di Salle said that he himself was strongly tempted to lead a unified delegation--as its favorite son. What he left unsaid, but what Kennedy might have guessed, was that the peppery Governor--who led the big (58 convention votes) delegation into Estes Kefauver's column against Kennedy in the 1956 vice presidential balloting--is only lukewarm about Jack Kennedy.*

Kennedy's reply, as the Ohio grapevine had it, was crisp. To get the nomination, he said, "I must rely on substantial public support, not a controlled convention. But there was a rising possibility that he might be frozen out before he had a chance to demonstrate his public support in meaningful primaries; more and more Democratic Governors (TiME. July 6), and even Senators, were threatening to run as favorite sons. The way to win public support, he made clear, is to run big in a key state. And nothing looked more key--or more appealing--than Ohio, with its cross section of Midwest industry and agriculture and its tradition of independent voting.

Cooling Spaghetti. Kennedy pointed out that his coming into Ohio should not split the state party: Di Salle himself is not facing reelection, nor is there a Senate contest in 1960. Di Salle acknowledged that Kennedy was well liked in the state (he has made speeches in all major cities, and polls show him out ahead as the favorite 1960 Democrat). Also, it was obvious that Kennedy's Catholicism would be no handicap in Ohio, since Mike Di Salle and U.S. Senator and longtime (1945-56) Governor Frank Lausche, both Catholics, have rolled up big majorities in the past.

As Kennedy talked. Di Salle thawed, and both agreed to meet again in the fall before making any announcement. But Kennedy's message was plain and Di Salle got it: if Mike Di Salle runs in the primary, either he must pledge himself to Kennedy or Kennedy will run against him. Said Di Salle, when he discovered that there was little else worth saying: "All right, boys. Let's go downstairs. The spaghetti's gettin' cold.''

* In four weeks Kennedy has forged ahead of Adlai Stevenson in the Gallup poll as the top choice among Democrats for the 1960 nomination. Standings a month ago: Stevenson. 29%: Kennedy, 26%. This week: Kennedy, 29%; Stevenson, 25%.

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