National Affairs: Kicks & Recoils

Tom Dewey’s supporters kicked and fought last week over plans to take a poll of presidential choices at the Wisconsin Republican State Convention in Madison. They were sure, or thought they were sure, that Harold Stassen’s workers had thought up the poll, and that it would be a cinch for a Stassen victory. Dewey’s cohorts even asked his supporters to boycott the straw vote.

When the results were announced this week, Stassenmen wished they had worked harder on the 1,159 delegates, and Dewey-men laughingly wondered why they had been worried. The poll showed these top choice results: Dewey 321; Stassen 286; Douglas MacArthur 157; Robert A. Taft 97; John Bricker 77; Arthur Vandenberg 59. Eighth choice of Wisconsin Republicans: Wisconsin’s ex-Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr.—seven votes.