When Frank Lausche was mayor of Cleveland in the early ’40s, he sculpted his political totem in the form of a mugwump and named it antiboss. Through five terms as Governor and two as U.S. Senator, the conservative-minded Democrat was well served by his cult of independence, although party leaders from the White House to the Ohio state committee were frequently and understandably distressed.
Last week the Democratic state executive committee voted 45 to 14 to support John Gilligan, 46, a Cincinnati city councilman and former Congressman, for the Senate seat that Lausche now holds. Said State Chairman Morton Neipp: “We need some discipline in the party.” Lausche, 72, remarked that the challenge, which will be settled in the May 7 primary, “neither pleased nor distressed” him. After all, it will give him a chance to inveigh yet again against the bosses.
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