Two Big Issues

In Dallas, more than 1,000 people jammed a League of Women Voters luncheon, sent 250 questions to the head table to be answered by Texas' gubernatorial candidates. In Waukegan, Ill., 400 Democrats gathered around a roaring bon fire at a party rally. In Amherst, Mass., on a miserable, stormy night, nearly 1,000 packed the high school auditorium to hear political speeches. In Atlanta, a group of wealthy citizens met at a candlelight buffet dinner with a Republican candidate for Congress. When he was through speaking, a woman put the question that seems most on America's mind in Election Year 1962. "What," she asked, "about Cuba?"

These meetings, as much as the throngs that turn out for President Kennedy, and the women who clutch at him across the nation's airport fences, are meaningful to this campaign. Political observers can hardly recall when there was such interest in an off-year election. The citizens who turn out are not in a frolicsome mood. They listen intently, take notes, ask questions. As they do, two major issues take shape: 1) foreign policy, especially Cuba, and 2) money.

Setting the Course. "I never cared too much for old Harry Truman," growled a California farmer. "But he damn sure wouldn't have let Khrushchev move into Cuba." "We had a chance to correct the Cuba situation," said Thomas O'Grady, an Illinois railroad switchman. "But we lost it. I'm not blaming Kennedy, but hell, we've got to do something before things get out of hand down there." Following the example of Senior Republican Dwight Eisenhower, G.O.P. candidates have taken to the attack, charging the Administration with irresolution in its foreign policy and weakness in dealing with Castro.

The tactic can be dangerous. In Indiana, for example, Republican Senator Homer Capehart advocated a direct U.S. invasion of Cuba, hastily backed away when it seemed to be losing him votes. Yet the Democrats are clearly embarrassed by the foreign policy issue, prefer to discuss domestic matters whenever possible. If Cuba must be talked about, they argue, it should be talked about in the vaguest of terms. Urges the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee in a memo to party candidates: "Be for a course of action on Cuba, but a course of action short of invasion."

Ignoring the Fact. As the U.S. is frustrated by Cuba, so is it uneasy about the economy. That feeling was reflected in the stock market, which last week fell to 573.29 in the Dow-Jones industrial averages--lower than Blue Monday. It was reflected in the Federal Reserve Board's move to perk things up by cutting commercial bank reserve requirements. It was reflected in the things-are-going-to-get-better statements of such Administration officials as Walter Heller, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, and Commerce Secretary Luther Hodges (see U.S. BUSINESS).

But most of all it was reflected in the political battles at state and local levels. U.S. voters tend to feel helpless about the national economy and national tax policies; it's all too big to be understandable. They can, however, do something about state taxes--and a candidate can ignore that fact only at his peril.

The average per capita state tax has leaped from $65 in 1952 to $113 this year. In Ohio, Democratic Governor Mike Di Salle is in deep trouble because of the tax increase he pushed through the legislature to pay for his expanded welfare programs. In Michigan, Democratic Governor John Swainson is hard put to explain his state's swelling deficit. In Colorado, Democratic Governor Steve McNichols balanced the budget and freed the state of bonded indebtedness. But he had to raise the income tax to do it, and it may cost him his job.

As always, many elections will be decided on the question of which candidate has the toothiest smile, or which is most likely to get Government aid for a new sewer district. But as rarely before in off-year elections, the bigger, more substantial issues are being discussed and debated in almost every state. A few months ago, President Kennedy asked for a national dialogue on the great national problems of the day. Now he is getting it, and the U.S. can only benefit.

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