Green Light for Daniel

How to jump gracefully from the job he has (U.S. Senator) to the job he wants (governor of Texas) was the problem confronting Price Daniel; he feared that the Texans who sent him to the Senate for six years might be peeved if he applied after four years for another position. Daniel attacked his problem with a radio-TV plea that Texas voters make up his mind for him. Last week, in response to his request that Texans tell him what he ought to do, 29,000 of them sent him messages urging him to run for governor. That was mandate enough for Daniel; forthwith, he opened his campaign with a speech in Dallas.

Daniel hopes to woo the same conservative voters who sent Allan Shivers to Austin for three terms. Five men, so far, are opposing him; the stiffest competition will come from Ralph Yarborough, choice of the liberal Democrats. Yarborough, an Austin attorney, has lost twice to Shivers (in 1954 by only 92,000 votes), but is still a potent campaigner.

Among the other candidates is a voice from the past, ex-governor, ex-Senator W. Lee O'Daniel, who in 1938 appeared on the political scene with hillbilly songs and raucous cries of "Pass the Biscuits, Pappy," and wound up as governor. Now 66, O'Daniel has dusted off his old platform (in favor of the Ten Commandments and the golden rule). Nobody expects him to win, but liberals and conservatives alike wonder anxiously how many of their votes he might siphon off.

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