Rooky's Giant Step

"Oh hell, let's go!" exclaimed New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller, closing a mid-September strategy huddle. "I want to do it, and regardless of what I do or don't do the speculation will continue." His mind made up, his plans well laid, Rockefeller last week announced the decision that he had nailed down in the conference: next month he will make speeches and talk politics in Vice President Nixon's fortress California and potentially pivotal Oregon. While still disavowing his candidacy, Rockefeller was obviously stalking the presidency a lot sooner and a lot more seriously than his friends thought he would.

After warmups this week in Atlantic City, Manhattan and Chicago, Rockefeller's giant step will take him to Los Angeles on Nov. 12 for a luncheon speech before the World Affairs Council. By no coincidence, he will arrive in Los Angeles as the Western States Republican Conference assembles, and he has left time on his schedule for friendly, probing chats. Next day he will head for San Francisco to address the Press and Union League Club, then on to Salem, Ore. on Nov. 14 for a speech at Willamette University. At trail's end will be Oregon's youthful (37) Governor Mark Hatfield--who dreams of a

Rockefeller-Hatfield ticket--eager to brief his hero on the same Oregon primary that in 1948 knocked hopeful Harold Stassen out of the Republican race and started Tom Dewey on the high road to the nomination.

Mental Wrestling. As Governor Rockefeller explained it to newsmen last week in Albany, he had devoted himself "with tremendous intensity" to establishing his nine-month-old administration, and it was "running very smoothly." He was at last able to accept a few of the 3,300 speaking bids he had received. "I am not going on this trip as a candidate," said he. He would talk about "national and international" issues. "I have had for a great many years close ties and very basic concern in these problems." Mainly, he wants to "exchange ideas with others, get their reactions to mine. I think such a process is good for our country, for my party, and is enriching for me personally."

Out of this process of self-enrichment, compounded of many handshakes and conversations, will come Rockefeller's shrewd assessment of his chances, according to his close friends. Like a riverboat gambler, willing to risk all if the odds are right but unwilling to plunge recklessly, in the months ahead Rocky will weigh the evidence, not merely of the polls, but of the state of the nation and the world, all of which bear so critically on the fortunes of Vice President Nixon. Said he last week:

"Certainly all that I hear, see and feel will go into the decision-making process, will go into determining what I regard as the right course. I don't lay down any framework. I judge a course of action by all the circumstances prevailing at the time a decision must be made. That makes it easy; it isn't a mental wrestling match with me."

Back-Room Planning. Rockefeller men freely concede that the odds against him are imposing, for Nixon's popularity has soared since his trip to Russia.* If Nixon maintains his appeal, Rockefeller, who worked amicably with the Vice President as an Eisenhower appointee, plans to bow gracefully aside.

But some of Rockefeller's more partisan cohorts are ready for a rougher game. They resent what they regard as Nixon's electioneering in Moscow, are coiled to pounce on the Vice President the moment the U.S.-Russian thaw turns frigid or his poll strength tapers off. In rehearsal is a new version of the anti-Taft cry, "Nixon can't win," and evident is their eagerness to echo tired Democratic tirades about "Tricky Dicky." In keeping with his quiet politicking, these passions in the Rockefeller camp are well leashed. But New York's cautious candidate may find himself unable to afford the luxury of being above the battle if Nixon men, as they must, take seriously his entry into what is now a one-horse race.

*Xixon backers last week produced a poll of Republican voters in Rockefeller's New York that showed Nixon (74%) far ahead of Rockefeller (19%) for the G.O.P. nomination; independents favored Xixon over Rockefeller by almost 2 to 1.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.