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candidate running as a Republican. He was Democratic president of the

senate, his name is Jerry Thomas, no relation of mine, but a great guy

and a dyed in the wool conservative with an outstanding record and he

works like the devil. Campaigns hard and has been building an organization

for over a year and he has the best organization right now, five months

before the election, he's got the best organization that I have ever

seen. He's got the most people. And that's what it takes. And he

has done it quietly, a lot of people don't even realize that he has such

an organization. He has organized every county, it doesn't make any

difference you know, we have eighteen counties in Florida, I

believe it is, with less than a hundred registered Republicans, but he

has an organization in each one of those counties, and obviously, they

are not Republican. He's gone in and gotten Democratic conservatives

on his steering committee. And he's done a phenomenal job and I'll

tell you right now, remember, I'll bet on it, I'll put money on it, that

he'll win. Because, listen, things haven't changed that much in 110

years since Abraham Lincoln told us how to do it in 1854, find the

Whigs, be sure they are registered and be sure that you get them out to

vote. And that's what this guy:is doing. He's finding the people who

are sympathetic and he's building an organization. And Askew's going to

try to do it with the press and with PR and I just believe that the way

that Thomas is doing it this year is the way that is going to win.

J.B.: What do you see as the outlook on the Congressional races?

Thomas: All four of our incumbents will win and we will pick up one

other seat. The Fifth District, there again, we should have had it in

'70, '72. It was a new district, it's a Republican district, but we

got involved in a bitter primary and when the two guys got through calling


From the Southern Oral History Program, #4007, Interview /4-0 in the Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT.