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"A collaborative political resource." |
Step to the Right
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| Contributor | RBH |
| Last Edited | RBH Sep 21, 2007 05:08pm |
| Category | News |
| News Date | Jun 14, 1968 05:05pm |
| Description | Given the conservative mood of California Republicans over the past four years, Senator Thomas Kuchel had become almost an anachronism, the last high-level moderate in a state party dominated by George Murphy and Ronald Reagan. In last week's G.O.P. primary, voters decided to retire Kuchel. By nearly 67,000 votes out of 2,168,117 total cast, he lost the Republican senatorial nomination to California Superintendent of Public Instruction Max Rafferty, a granitic conservative.
While the election clearly marked a step to the right within the state party, Tommy Kuchel, 57, had also brought trouble on himself. In his 16 years in the Senate, Kuchel, appointed by Earl Warren in 1952 to fill out Richard Nixon's unexpired term, had entrenched himself as minority whip. With his bland, litigious mind, the Californian found a congenial environment in the clubbish Senate, but he was never very careful about looking after his political fences at home, where he was often more popular with Democrats than with Republicans. Nor did his refusal to support the campaigns of Barry Goldwater, Reagan and Murphy endear him to California G.O.P. workers.
Throughout this spring's primary campaign, Kuchel ignored his advisers' counsel to abandon his long-winded, carefully qualified political statements and serve up hard answers. By contrast, Rafferty waged purple war against the "four modern deadly sins of violence, pornography, drugs and lawlessness" and demanded that the nation "take the handcuffs off our military people." In November, Rafferty will face Democratic Nominee Alan Cranston, a liberal and former state controller, who is slightly favored in the race. |
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