Bark v. Bite

It seemed at times as though John Birch's name was on the ballot in Wisconsin's Republican primary for Governor. One candidate had the Birch Society's support and was glad of it; the other thought that was terrible, and made the most of it--and the society itself became the main issue. As the votes were counted last week, the man with the Birch backing won.

He was Philip G. ("Buzz") Kuehn, 42, a Milwaukee cold-storage businessman, a former G.O.P. state chairman and a longtime backer of Senator Joe McCarthy. During this year's campaign, Kuehn said he would be proud to be called "Barry Goldwater Junior." Back in July, Dr. Theodore L. Taylor, 32, a Madison dentist and head of the local Birch chapter, gave his personal endorsement to Kuehn. Kuehn seemed pleased: "I will accept the support of any Wisconsin voter who thinks I am the best qualified candidate for Governor."

Candidate Wilbur Renk, a middle-roading Republican, figuring that the Birch Society's support was a liability, seemed equally pleased. Crowed he: "I think I may have won the election.'' Kuehn tried to scoff off the criticism that came his way, joking to a group of University of Wisconsin students: ''If you have been following the newspapers, you know that for the past few days I have been hacking my way out of a Birch forest. And I can tell you that the Birch bark is worse than the Birch bite."

The fuss kept up until Kuehn finally called a press conference to reject the backing of the Birch Society "as it exists under Robert Welch," its ex-fudgemaker founder. But, said Kuehn, he would still accept the support of any individual voter, "regardless of what secret society he may belong to." He concluded: "I will not say to honest and dedicated individuals who fear and apparently are trying to combat Communism, that I repudiate them solely because they belong to a controversial organization."

Rival Renk responded confidently that "the great majority of Wisconsin's voters will show that they have no use for the hysterical approach of the far right." He was wrong: Kuehn took 57 of the state's 72 counties, won by more than 50,000 votes, and is favored to beat a colorless Democratic candidate, Attorney General John W. Reynolds, in November.

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