Ready, Willing & Running

When I was a young man, courting the

girls,

I played me a waiting game. If a maid refused me with tossing curls, I let the old earth take a couple of

whirls . . . And as time came around, she came

my way,

As time came around, she came . . . --September Song

One morning last week, Missouri's Senator Stuart Symington made a polite, lojjg-distance telephone call to Independence, Mo. His strategy to win the Democratic presidential nomination--to play a waiting game while his more eager rivals bled each other white in the state primary elections--was not working out quite according to plan. Jack Kennedy was bulldozing his way across Wisconsin, and Symington's top aides and impatient partisans were urging him to declare himself before it is too late. In Independence, Harry Truman listened attentively to Symington's new plans, then gave his seasoned opinion: "I agree. That's what you should do." The next day in the crowded Senate Caucus Room, Stuart Symington declared his intentions: "I wish to announce," he said, "that I am a candidate for President of the United States."

Competition for Cameras. After the ovation died down, Candidate Symington made it clear that he had not changed his mind about entering state primaries (in fact, the filing date for all but South Dakota and the District of Columbia had passed). And he took sharp issue with the Kennedy line that a couple of primary victories should open the way to nomination. "Only four states-and the District of Columbia have contested primaries, [and they] have only 106 out of 1,521 convention votes," said he. "I believe that all delegates should have a vote in selecting the nominee." Then he sketched out his four-plank platform: 1) world peace through negotiation, with the U.S. leading from renewed strength; 2) a "sound public investment program in such fields as education, health, slum clearance . . . and more realistic benefits for the elderly and disabled"; 3) another "sound program" to buttress the position of the family-sized farmer; and 4) a no-nonsense civil rights policy.

Handsome Stu Symington can give Jack Kennedy a run for the cameras, and--a millionaire himself--he also has the money to wage an all-out campaign. His family can match the Kennedys in looks if not in numbers, and probably surpass them as entertainers (Wife Eve was once a $1,000-a-week cafe-society chanteuse. Son Jim is a semiprofessional guitarist and folk singer, and Daughter-in-Law Sylvia an accomplished pianist).

Communing with Commuters. After his announcement, Symington took to the road for a fast-moving weekend. In Detroit for the Democratic Midwest Conference, he denied any part in the stop-Kennedy movement. In New York he held a fast press conference, then dashed out to suburban New Rochelle for a big Democratic dinner and a bid for the commuters' vote. By week's end he was back in Detroit to say goodbye to the departing Midwestern politicians and attend a meeting of the United Auto Workers.

Even though he moved faster than he had while under wraps, Stu Symington was basing his campaign on a policy of hurry up and wait. If Jack Kennedy should falter or fail on one of the primary battlefields then Symington--generally conceded to be "everybody's second choice"--might move into position as the most promising candidate.

*Wisconsin, West Virginia, Maryland, Oregon.

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