Democratic Primary, G.O.P. Gain

For Texans it was like old times before the emergence of a viable Republican Party. The only significant elections then were the Democratic primaries, and the party could afford wingding battles over faction, ideology and personalities without fear of losing office. Now the G.O.P. holds one Texas Senate seat and has an attractive U.S. Representative running for the other. The Democrats seem not to notice. Last week they wound up an old-fashioned brawl for the Senate nomination, just as if the G.O.P. did not exist. The result, according to unofficial returns Saturday night, was defeat for incumbent Senator Ralph Yarborough at the hands of Businessman Lloyd Bentsen Jr. The G.O.P. is likely to be the ultimate victor.

Genteel. The Texas Democratic Party long ago split into two bitterly feuding camps. Yarborough, 66, relies on a New Dealish grass-roots coalition of labor, liberals, East Texas blue-collar workers, blacks and Mexican Americans. This formula has kept him in the Senate for 13 years. Son of an East Texas farmer, the rural-oriented Yarborough is folksy and stubborn. Probably the South's most liberal Senator, he is a pariah among the state's conservative oil, banking and commercial interests. Recently he infuriated some of his backers by voting against the Supreme Court nomination of a Southerner, G. Harrold Carswell, and thereby became a major Republican target in their drive to take over the Senate.

Yarborough's conservative opponent, Bentsen, 49, differs from him in almost every way. Scion of a wealthy Rio Grande family, Bentsen is genteel but wooden. A former Congressman, he heads a $400 million insurance company and sits on the boards of a number of banks and an oil company. Bentsen was lured back into politics by Yarborough's old foe, ex-Governor John Connally, in a well-organized drive to scuttle Yarborough. The conservative faction put together an effective campaign estimated to cost close to $2,000,000, relying heavily on television advertising, while Yarborough spent a meager $200,000. Connally's mentor, Lyndon Johnson, remained officially neutral, but Bentsen had the help of several old Johnson aides, including Press Secretary George Christian.

War Profiteer. Yarborough ignored Bentsen's challenge at first; voters showed little interest in the campaign, and Bentsen was hardly known. The incumbent was concentrating instead on the November contest with Republican George Bush, a cool, articulate conservative. As primary day approached, however, polls showed Bentsen narrowing Yarborough's lead, and the race degenerated into an ill-natured battle. Yarborough called his opponent a "war profiteer" and "tax dodger," both undeserved slurs, while Bentsen linked Yarborough to disorders in Chicago and Washington because of his support of Eugene McCarthy and the peace movement.

On election day, Yarborough was unable to rally enough of his traditional support to overcome the electorate's disinterest and to offset the votes of Republicans who crossed party lines to vote for Bentsen. Yarborough's East Texas stronghold deserted him, mainly over the Carswell issue. While Yarborough's friends stayed home, his enemies did not. Thus, the Democrats were deprived of their best chance to defeat the G.O.P.'s Bush next fall.

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