Seeking the Mantle

For the first time in 49 years, the name of Sam Rayburn was missing from the ballot in Texas' Fourth Congressional District. The cotton-and-cattle-country Fourth was Mister Sam's undisputed personal fief; the Texas legislature kept it the sixth smallest in the U.S. (its population is 213,374; by comparison, a neighboring district contains 951,527 Texans) to make fence-tending easy for the aging Speaker, who died last November at 79. Six candidates, including a lone Republican, campaigned to succeed him in a special election. Nobody polled a majority, so the two who led the field will face each other in a runoff late this month.

The leaders were both Democrats--and both laid claim to having been Rayburn's personal favorite. Said State Senator Ray Roberts, 44, who once worked in Mister Sam's House office: "There is no question about how Mr. Rayburn felt about me. Mr. Rayburn used to say it all the time; everybody's heard him say, 'I've been training Ray Roberts for 20 years to go to Washington.' " Said R. C. ("Bob") Slagle Jr., 51, a lawyer and onetime Rayburn campaign manager: "I worked with Rayburn for many years. I spent many happy hours with him. I was his right-hand man in this area and a personal friend. I loved the old man. No one will fill his shoes, understand me there, but I would like to see the man who succeeds him follow in the Rayburn traditions and the Rayburn thinking, and I believe I understand that as well as anybody living."

Roberts came out on top with 8,132 votes. Slagle was runner-up with 5,941.

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