Dinner at Dick's

To the 18 California Republicans he invited for dinner one evening last week, Richard Nixon represented the host with the most. Polls showed that of all likely Republican candidates, Nixon would have the easiest time defeating Democrat Pat Brown in California's 1962 gubernatorial election. Painfully mauled in 1958, the California G.O.P. needed a ticket leader like Nixon, who boosted 22 new Republicans into Congress last November while narrowly losing the presidency. As they pulled their rattan chairs a little closer together in the Nixon playroom and sipped their cocktails, the visitors strained to hear whether their host would be willing to run. His decision: probably not.

$2,000 a Month. Ever since Nixon came home from Washington last February and began building a $135,000 Beverly Hills ranch house, most Californians have shared the same curiosity about his plans. Aware of the growing demand that he make up his mind, Nixon produced a carefully prepared statement. He was flattered to be asked to run, he said. But, he added, "My own experience is at the national and international level. I do not think I can turn my back on my responsibility to the national party."

The former vice president was obviously not at all anxious to ignore his private road map, which does not include Sacramento as a way stop on the route back to Washington. For one thing, Democrats are almost certain to control the next California legislature; they would make life unbearable for any Republican Governor, and particularly for Nixon. Another reason: campaigning in California and serving as Governor would restrict Nixon to his home state when he would want to be out touring the U.S.

Current Nixon strategy is national exposure until the presidential campaign of 1964. He is writing a book (Six Crises) and a syndicated column that has already been snapped up by 145 newspapers. He is in wide demand as a speaker; he receives about a thousand letters a week, runs up a $2,000-a-month telephone bill keeping up his long distance contacts. Moreover, Nixon is preparing to campaign in 1962 for Republican candidates across the country, partly because he can help them win and strengthen the party, partly because he hopes to have the favor returned at the" 1964 G.O.P. convention. Few Nixon strategists seriously consider the idea of bypassing '64 for '68; win or lose, the next Republican presidential nominee would become titular head of the party, and Nixon would be frozen out.

"My Judgment." After they digested their host's arguments, Nixon's guests moved from the playroom to the poolside patio to digest roast beef, nine vegetables and fruit glace. They had, in effect, been turned down. But when they left the party, they took with them one faint but sweetly sounding if. If, promised Nixon, 60 days of political soundings left them still convinced that he was the only man who could beat Pat Brown, he would reconsider and run. But, added the host with the most, "my judgment will be the biggest factor in the final decision."

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