U.S.A. PRESIDENCY

Hokitika Guardian, 1 November 1928, Page 5

U.S.A. PRESIDENCY

CAMPAIGN NOTES

BETTING FAVOURS HOOVER

(United Press Association By Fleetri< Telegraph —Copyright).

/Received this day at 9.25. a.m.) NEW YORK, October 31.

While i( was declared that having fully discussed the religious issue. AI Smith would make little or no further references to it, intimations are now given that in the next four at least campaign speeches to lie delivered in or near New York City, the Governor will make this question the paramount one. The candidate's advisors feel that his Catholicism will he the, deciding factor in i lie election, and i In- is reported < 0 very disturbed ; ovej- this fad. lie ha> said that he would rather he defeated than obtain the support of such organisations as the l\u Klux Klan. The importance of the Governor’s decision again to stress the so-called bigotry issue, lies in the fact that always personalities fly thickest towards the end of a campaign and an intense discussion on the religious question promises to make the final week possibly one of the most unsavoury in American politics. There is a large amount of betting on the result of the election. Prominent Wall Street commissioners estimate four million dollars in wagers already has been placed, and the amount will possibly reach ten millions before the election. The odds have been nine to two favouring Hoover, but have wavered from time to time as the fortunes of the candidates have apparently changed. With an ostensible change in .sentiment they have been as low as seven to two, favouring Hoover, and now are four to one. Along with this sublimated 'form ol trying to guess the outcome of the election and numerous straw voles are being conducted throughout the country, these with no exceptions, all show that Hoover is loading. One magazine. which in 192-1 was able to forecast the outcome with fair accuracy Inis this year conducted an elaborate postcard poll in which more than three million votes have been gathered, with Hoover receiving sixty-three per cent. A remarkable feature of this poll is that Smith is lending in only lour States and these are all Southern. II the results should bear this out. the Democrat’s defeat would bo nothing short of disastrous.