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A Small Victory, A Real Defeat
The professional Democrat who sfees in the past November seventh election a great Democratic victory in Virginia misreads the political weather vane as much as the Republican w'ho feels it was a great defeat.
To grasp the full implication of the Almond landslide, the re dent election must be viewed in the light of the close Stanley -Dalton race of four years ago, and both, vis-avis developments on the national levelNation-wide,
the voters of Virginia have been offered no real choice since Franklin Roosevelt ran for a third termWhere opce being a Democrat or being a Republican meant something, the difference betwreen the two parties has vanished. You can no longer tell a Democratic platform from a Republican platform without a score card. And what really makes it tough is that-the one program espoused by both parties is wholly indigestable to most Virginians.
Our State political leaders have been caught in the resulting dilemma. Reluctant to quit the old party they find themselves out of place in staying. A United States Senator,* known head of the Democratic party, can not support the Democratic candidate for President. Republican committee chairmen back Democratic candidates- State delegates bolt national conventions of both parties. But all to no availThe
voters, like their leaders, have pivoted from one party to another. Eisenhower, a Republican, carries Virginia. Dalton a Republican, comes within a whisker of heatin': Stanley for governor. Democrats may hail the* Almond victory as a sweep for the Democrats, but it is not so. This election was not predictated upon any change of philosophy within the national parties. It was predicated solely upon the desire of Virginians'to voice their demand for state run!, state controlled public schools. The political philosophy of the national Democratic party and the Virginia voter re of the national Republican party. ^ mains as basically incompatible as ever. The same is true
. The voters in Virginia desparately want a program to vote for. They are still looking and seeking. Inevitably a time will come when a party sna'll be formed to offer the voters such a program! Until that time, uneasy will rest the mantle of leadership on any head in Virginia, be he Demo- ■ erat or Republican.
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