Same Old South

So far this year, Democratic primary results show little political change in the South. In three states last week, Southern progressives won some ground, but old-fashioned Democrats still came out ahead.

Arkansas. Senator John L. McClellan, 58, survived his first close scrape in twelve years by a majority of some 4,500. The runner-up, Fair-Dealing former Governor Sid McMath, 41, ran out of campaign funds; to pay for a final ad, his staff had to pass the hat around. McClellan's ally, Governor Francis Cherry, failed to win a majority. In the runoff he faces a McMath crony: hawk-nosed Orval Faubus, 43, former state-highway director, a self-educated, match-chewing mountaineer.

Louisiana. Senator Allen Joseph Ellender, 62, easily won a fourth term. The runner-up: Attorney Frank Ellis, 47, Democratic national committeeman who held the state in line for Stevenson in 1952 ("primarily at my personal expense"). Ellis promptly resigned his "onerous" party post.

Oklahoma. Oil Wholesaler Raymond Gary, a former schoolteacher who became president pro tempore of the state senate, clinched the governorship in a runoff election. Gary ran second of 16 candidates in last month's primary, but came from behind to beat fire-breathing William Coe. Biggest upset, however, was Oklahoma's choice for lieutenant governor: Cowboy Pink Williams, 62, a rancher (1,100 acres) who virtually rode into office on a three-letter word* banned from the mails as obscene. Last summer Williams got embroiled with the Post Office for mailing 300,000 comic postcards that pictured a donkey kicking "cattlemen who voted for Ike." He cashed in on the publicity, legally changed his name from James Pinckney to Cowboy Pink Williams, and campaigned against veteran (six terms) Lieutenant Governor James Berry with the slogan: "It's Berry canning time." It was.

* Derived from the Greek "orrhus" and Anglo-Saxon "aers."

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