The Nation: Scoop’s Scheme

Washington Senator Henry Jackson, the Democrats’ hawk hopeful, has discovered that there are other perils to running for the presidency a year too early. A Jackson supporter in the Washington legislature came up with an amendment calling for a presidential primary that would take place one week before the Oregon primary. Jackson would be a sure thing in Washington; that would give him a psychological boost for Oregon, and the combined momentum might then carry him to a crucial primary victory in California. By this plan Jackson would go to the convention with a formidable bag of Western delegates.

However, a Republican raised a parliamentary objection that killed it. Nonetheless, Jackson’s hopes for a coup in the Far West are still alive. The Alaska legislature passed a bill approving a presidential primary for the last week of February. That would beat New Hampshire, previously the nation’s first, by two weeks—and add immeasurably to the snows politicians must plow through on the road to the nomination.