Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1920 — WOOD MANAGERS CLAIM 395 ON FIRST BALLOT [ARTICLE]

WOOD MANAGERS CLAIM 395 ON FIRST BALLOT

Chicago, May 26—“ General Wood will poll so many votes on the first two ballots that only a political miracle can prevent his nomination on the next few succeeding ballots.” This claim was confidentially put forward today by the general’s handlers in Chicago. The quest for additional delegates has diminished appreciably. They are now engaged in laying convention plans, not preconvention ones. The general, they believe, is already “in.” Wood’s Chicago headquarters estimate his strength on the first two ballots as high as 395 votes which is within 100 votes of sufficient They exude confidence with every typewriter. They point a situation analogous to that of Hughes four years ago. Hughes polled 293 votes on that ballot and his initial strength acted as a magnet for additional strength and he was nominated on the third ballot. In such a position they say is Gen. Good today. Suggestions that the general, with all his initial strength, may run up against a' stone wall just before he gets the requisite 493 votes are met with earnest argument I The fact that the unpledged delegates will control the convention is the happiest augury possible for the general, it is claimed. “Strength attracts strength,” said the presidential-makers. “The unpledged delegates have no particular choices, otherwise they could come prepared' to support them from the start. Non-partisan observers declare that the swing will be to the man who exhibits the most strength. That man will be Gen. Wood and the gravitation to him will begin after the first ballot.” The opposition of Senator Boies Penrose, the old guard’s astute political mentor, is recognized and discounted by the Wood handlers. “Senator Penrose,” it was said at Wood headquarters, “was opposed” to Justice Hughes in 1916. But Hitchcock went oUt, gathered together his delegates and nominated Hughes. Frank Hitchcock is handling Gen. Wood. It is certainly not inconceivable that he will again defeat the cherished plans of Penrose. The Wood forces are confident that they will fall heir to the several “favorite son” delegations which will be released from their promises after the first ballot. They expect to get many of Pennsylvanians 76 delegates after the vote for Sproul or Knox in the early ballot. New York’s big delegation of 88 will certainly throw a few for Wood, it is said, and from Senator Poindexter’s Washington delegation they expect a number. It is confidently expected by Wood’s handlers, too, that Senator Harding will withdraw on the eve of nomination. , _ Wood is the natural heir to Ohio’s delegation, it was pointed out today. The general run second to the senator in the Ohio election. . The situation is something like this: Under Ohio law, Senator Harding must file notice of his senatorial candidacy by midnight, June 11. Under Ohio law, he cannot be a candidate for senator and president at the same time. He must renounce one or the other. Is he going to throw up his senatorial chances, which, with Wood support in Ohio, are almost certain of success, in order to make an admittedly hopeless quest for the presidential nomination? He is not.”