In San Antonio, where the liberals are stronger than any place else in Texas, Connally's supporters were greatly out-numbered at the county convention and so they walked out, held a rump convenion, and named their own delegates to the state convention. The Connally-dominated credentials committee at the State Convention seated the illegitimate delegation and Connally's control was complete. At county conventions where liberals prevailed, resolutions had been passed endorsing President Johnson and his program; where Connally prevailed, the President was endorsed but never his program.

By controlling the state convention, Connally also gained control of the Texas delegation to the Democratic National Convention and a conservative delegation it was: one of Texas' representatives on the platform committee was Price Daniel, a former Governor who enacted three anti-civil rights bills during his time in office. Connally is also systematically removing the liberals from the state Democratic Executive Committee.

The President has so far attempted to remain outwardly aloof from the conflicts in Texas. He did choose Governor Connally to place his name in nomination at the Atlantic City convention but that was natural enough since Connally was chairman of the delegation from Johnson's home state. He has also gone to great lengths to cement his relations with Ralph Yarborough and there is no doubt that the Senator wholeheartedly supports him.

And Texas Too?

There is some possibility that Johnson will succeed in staying out of the fights in Texas even after the election; "he's got the world now," a friend of his has said, "why should he bother with Texas?" But the in-fighting may grow so intense that he will be forced to intercede, for Johnson has no fondness for unmended fences.

In spite of these squabbles, the Johnson-Humphrey ticket will carry Texas by a better margin than the Kennedy-Johnson ticket did and might even win sixty per cent of the vote. A private poll conducted in bellwether sections of the state indicates that he is doing handsomely in all areas except in low income, non-Negro neighborhoods where there is some evidence of heavy "white backlash" sentiment.

He will retain much of his old conservative support and in so doing will deliver a major set-back to Texas Republicans who had ironically based all their hopes on a ticket headed by Barry Goldwater. And he will carry virtually all the liberals either because they have the high hope that he will be a great President, in the Roosevelt fashion, or because they recognize him as much the better of two evils.

The year of pointed confusion for Texas that has followed the assassination of John Kennedy may well be succeeded by some bitter times for that province. Either the conservatives or the liberals will have been wrong in supporting Lyndon Johnson.