University of Virginia Library

Candidates Stump At University

Howell Weighs Gubernatorial Prospects

By Tom Adams
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

State Senator Henry Howell,
Democratic primary candidate for
Governor of Virginia, spoke before
a group of University Young
Democrats Monday in the Informal
Lounge of Newcomb Hall.

Mr. Howell spoke to small
groups of students over tea and
then delivered a short talk in which
he attacked the Byrd machine and
the Republican party.

Senator Howell told his
audience that "for the first time
since 1949 more than two people
have an interest in running for
governor." He said that there will
be three other candidates seeking
the Democratic nomination this
year: William C. Battle, a
Charlottesville lawyer and son of
former Governor John S. Battle;
Lieutenant Governor Fred G.
Pollard, and T. Marshall Hahn,
president of Virginia Polytechnic
Institute.

Of these three, he said prior to
his talk, Mr. Hahn would be the
most formidable opponent. He said
that Mr. Hahn would have the
support of the state Democratic
Organization, including the backing
of Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr.
and Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr.

He discounted the changes of
Mr. Pollard, saying that he had not
received the backing of the
"organization."

As for Mr. Battle, he continued,
he will not get the Spong
"anti-organization vote." That vote,
Sen. Howell said, "is a vote I've
inherited." He conceded that Mr.
Battle will get the business and
"organization" vote that went to
Senator Spong.

Sen. Howell called the growing
number of supporters of George
Wallace "the mad vote," and
indicated that he might pick up
support in the primaries from
supporters of the former Alabama
governor.

Sen. Howell began his address to
the Young Democrats with
"Virginia is seeing the
disappearance of the oldest
continuous political system ever in
the United States." He attacked the
Byrd Machine, calling it "a
conspiracy of conformity." At its
peak, he said, "it meant that less
than 20 per cent of the voters took
part in the selection of candidates
for governor." The machine "could
pick governors eight years in
advance and it took real courage to
oppose it."

He then went on to attack the
insurance and electric power
industries of Virginia. He charged
that the rates charged by the
Virginia Electric Power Company
are prohibitive to industry. The
"non-competitive electrical rates"
charged by Vepco "do not create a
climate for industry," he said. Sen.
Howell has been investigating
Vepco's rates from the Virginia
Senate.

He has had the State
Corporation Commission
investigate the "discriminatory
practices" of insurance companies.
He said that your automobile
insurance payments may be based
on such things as "your race,
military status, marital status, or
job." Sen. Howell was wearing a
Humphrey button, and he
proceeded to speak about his
candidate: "I know that many of
you are not satisfied with the
Democratic platform or candidates,
but compare them and their
concern with that of the
opposition.

He said that of the six
Republicans in the Virginia Senate,
five of them voted against "the
sensible bonding of capital
improvements.

"I hope that by coming to
college campuses all over the state,
that I can capture the energies of
those who supported Senators
McCarthy and Kennedy," he said.
He closed his talk with "don't be
discouraged you who ran into the
flak at Chicago."