REPORT OF THE COUNTY CHAIRMAN

How many people are interested now in a meticulous rehash of the late presidential campaign as reported at the county level? Don't be misled — a great many people will be interested. Democrats primarily, to be sure (though maybe some open-minded Republicans will want to see what makes them tick). Michener was first deeply involved in local politics in Hawaii. When he and his wife came back to live near Doylestown- his boyhood home- he found himself caught up in the local organization of the minority-Democratic party. Rucks County was overwhelmingly Republican. With Michener we relive the campaign- going back to the primaries —forward to the difficulties, with relatively little to call on in the way of man power and money, in organizing the campaign. It makes fascinating- surprisingly so- reading, in a cross sectioning of a rural county operation. Michener was working on a volunteer basis, learning how it was done as he went along. Some of the personalities are vividly and vigorously sketched — the workers, the volunteers, the hatchet men, the pros and in the final chapters, some of the key figures on the barnstorming tour. One sees some of the low levels of filth used in the religious attacks — one is aghast at the intolerance and gullibility of the general public. Some of the closely reasoned arguments the steps by which Michener — personally- became a dedicated Kennedy man — may even win some waverers at this late date. This is a new approach- after the event- to the kind of thinking we used as citizens.