Now for the Dialogue

In New York City all summer the Democratic candidates for their party's mayoral nomination seemed to be more interested in talking to one another than to the electorate. Last week's primary ended the in-group dialogue and gave hope of a lively, hard-fought campaign in a city whose smothering problems challenge every ounce of brain and muscle its next mayor can muster.

Bypassing the favorite in a field of four, New York's Democrats nominated a feisty, folksy accountant, City Controller Abraham David Beame, 59. In the general election he will face the strongest Republican candidate for mayor in a generation: Manhattan Congressman' John Vliet Lindsay, 43, a Yale-educated lawyer with a liberal voting record and impressive support in a "silk stocking" Manhattan district in which registered Republicans are in the minority.

Manager's Ideal. Beame's victory in the primary came as a surprise, since the front-running candidate, City Council President Paul Screvane, had an undisputed record of administrative ability as well as the not-unmixed boon of Mayor Robert Wagner's blessing. Yet Beame, as a candidate for mayor of New York, could almost have been invented by a campaign manager. Born in London, in the course of his poor Jewish parents' emigration from Warsaw, he grew up on the bleakest Lower East Side, earned his tuition through the College of the City of New York and plunged into Brooklyn ward politics, his entree to a 20-year city hall career. A canny, candid financial expert, Beame spoke with authority in condemning longtime Boss Bob Wagner's feckless financing practices, thus shrewdly disassociated himself from the tired Democratic regime of which he was a part.

Since Democrats enjoy a registration advantage of better than 3 to 1 in New York City, Lindsay has been doing some disassociating of his own--trying to run as an independent rather than a down-the-line Republican. Beame declared himself the underdog and charged that Lindsay was being used "by the rejected Republican Party as a front in its attempted comeback in the city, state and nation." Beame called for help from any and all quarters to "repel the invaders." His manager reported that Hubert Humphrey would "walk the streets, ring doorbells and make speeches" on Beame's behalf.

Blue v. Green. Lindsay, an attractive, articulate campaigner, has concentrated on the city's "dreary descent into darkness and chaos" under 20 years of Democratic rule. Despite an efficient organization and ample financing, he insists that he, not Beame, is "clearly the underdog." To get around the city's traditional coolness toward Republicans, Lindsay wheedled a second nomination from the labor-oriented Liberal Party. He went further--perhaps too far--by rejecting the aid of all Republicans outside the city, including Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The election, he said, "is a local matter for the people of the municipality to decide." Lindsay even made apologetic sounds for accepting a campaign loan from Rockefeller, insisted that he really wanted no part of the Governor during the campaign. This proved too much even for Lindsay's campaign chairman, Senator Jacob Javits, who said that Rockefeller had a right to be heard from, whether "John Lindsay invites him or not."

The liveliest comments of all came from Lindsay's fellow Yaleman, William F. Buckley Jr., 39, wealthy editor of the ultraconservative National Review and half-serious candidate of the splinter Conservative Party. Buckley is undisputedly the bottommost dog of all--and he is having his day. Said he: "Just to grab him and say, 'Say something, Mr. Lindsay,' would be pure delight. If he comes out in favor of blue instead of green, I'd consider that he was on the road to reform."

Though Lindsay certainly looked as if he knew true blue when he entered the race last May, he has stirred less attention in recent weeks than Beame. Moreover, as the Democrats move in their artillery to boom Beame, Lindsay may bitterly regret his decision to go it alone. After all, it is axiomatic in U.S. politics that every candidate needs all the help he can get, barring Communists, Fascists and--as of 1964--Birchites.

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