Close, but No Pitchforks

Political pundits sat like crows on a telephone wire last week waiting for the kernels of truth to pop out of North Dakota's special election to fill the senatorial seat of the late William ("Wild Bill") Langer. The kernels were a long time popping. After a painstaking, 36-hour vote count, the unofficial verdict was that Congressman Quentin Burdick, first Democrat the state had ever elected to the House, had won his way to the Senate over Republican Governor John Davis--by fewer than 1,000 votes out of 208,000.

The crows could have it either way. If they were looking for an all-out farm revolt against Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson, then--as Burdick's cam paign manager put it--there "was no farm revolt in the sense that they came over the hills with pitchforks"--but then, even the Republican candidate campaigned against Benson. If they were looking for the Republicans to start a comeback in the Midwest after six lean years, then signs were discouraging when a popular Republican Governor could not turn the trick. Davis lost in small driblets all along the line--in cities, towns and counties.

If North Dakota proved anything, it proved that neither party can confidently count on the farm belt in the fall. The results, predicted Republican Candidate Nixon, showed that presidential candidates will have "a close fight in every state in the country."

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