Word: stassens
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...Dewey, the pollsters' choice, knew he had to get out in front at the ballot box as well. Any early setback in the GOPresidential sweepstakes might well prove fatal. Last week, on the heels of Harold Stassen's departure, the Dewey machine rumbled into New Hampshire under a full head of steam, aiming for the nation's first presidential primary on March...
Washington politicos began to ask: "What is Harold up to?" They got a partial answer. Stories began to leak out of Washington of a midnight meeting between Stassen and Taft. Before Stassen had made up his mind to enter the Ohio primary, Taft had paid a call at Stassen's Hotel Statler suite. Taft had warned Stassen not to enter the primary, warned that it would wreck party unity and Stassen's own political future. Stassen's answer was equally blunt: if he was going to get anywhere he had to show that he could confront...
With the story out, Stassen hurriedly called in newsmen to give his own account of the meeting. Stassen agreed that Taft had asked for a conference as soon as he found that Stassenmen were canvassing the Ohio area. He also agreed that Taft had urged him to stay out. But he denied that Taft had threatened...
Whatever the exact course of the conversation, it was clear that Stassen had singled out Bob Taft as the man to campaign against and he was bulling ahead at full speed. He seemed fully aware of the risks of his new course. In Ohio, Taftmen had promptly set to raiding the slates of Stassen delegates, pressured others to stay out of the primary, confidently talked of capturing all of Ohio's 53 votes for Taft. But Stassen supporters figured that he was sure to pick up at least ten, enough to put a big crimp in Bob Taft...
Reading the national Scoreboard, Stassen was even cockier. When he first arrived in Montpelier last week, he was "reasonably sure" of 200 first-ballot delegates. By the time he left Portland, five days later, he thought he could count on 230 (against Dewey's estimated 350 and Taft's 200 to 250), including 17 of New England's 30 votes. Said Stassen confidently: "I would not change places with any other candidate at the moment." Who did he think was the man to beat? Replied Stassen with a grin: "Mr. Truman...