AJCSept. 25, 1969 pg. 4A

Reg Murphy

The Outlook on The Mayor’s Race

The Atlanta mayor's race is tighter than Dick's hatband.

The best guess at the moment is that Rodney Cook, Sam Massell, Everett Millican and Horace Tate are going to divide the votes like quartering a pie.

The pie could get lopsided if the voters ever get around to making up their minds. Fresh surveys show that over 40 per cent of the registered voters have not chosen up sides.

These same surveys also are beginning to indicate that there are trends which need to be discussed realistically.

For most of the year, Massell had more decided voters than anybody else. But the figures-and the impressions of knowledgeable observers-indicate that he has slipped somewhat. Just how far, it is impossible to say.

Massell's trouble probably is attributable to the fact that he is trapped on some difficult issues.

Cook started last spring behind Massell and Charles Weltner, who eventually chose not to run. He has made progress, the figures indicate.

Whether that progress is enough to get him into the runoff, only time will tell.

Millican obviously has been helped by the controversy over police brutality and the melee in Piedmont Park. Figures are not available which would indicate just how much they have improved his chances of making the runoff.

It is clear, however, that he has run an aggressive campaign that surprised some of his detractors.

Tate started with great appeal in the black community, specifically because he is a Negro. But his campaign has suffered visibly from a lack of funds and broad appeal.

For example, not one of the approximately 15 Negro elected officials in Atlanta has endorsed him publicly. That means his appeal is not as broad as observers first thought it would be.

Politicians hate these kinds of points like the devil hates holy water. It is a cardinal rule that each candidate is able to maintain a facade of pride and confidence.

Behind the facade, though, there are some frayed nerve ends because of the problems discussed here.

None of this, incidentally, should be interpreted as an expression of our own political preferences. We will make them known in due time, concentrating on candidate stands on the substantive issues.

The two candidates who come up with 26 per cent of the vote, rather than 24 per cent, are going to be in the runoff. So there still is need for spirited campaigning.

There is a feeling in the air that any candidate who could liven up the campaign with a little humor might find voters flocking to him. That was the strength of William B. Hartsfield. Whenever the problems began to bug him and his constituency, he would say something funny.

Once he was watching others campaign, and get photographed as they made mistakes. Playing his wise-old-man role, Hartsfield said, "Don't 'ever make a mistake that can be photographed."

This has not been the kind of campaign that can be photographed. Instead, the shifts and the subtlety have been almost too smooth for the eye to catch.