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 each other sons of bitches in the primary, then they couldn't get their

 people back together in the general election. And we should have won it.

 This year, we have two fine candidates running, both of them high type of

 men and they have agreed to run for the seat and not against each other.

 And therefore, I think that we will win the seat. It's the one that

 Gunter is vacating.

 J.B.: Do you think that the fact that the primary is held so late in

 Florida hurts either party in contested races, I mean, that it is bad

 for party politics?

 Thomas: Oh, I don't know. You know, I've heard all kinds of arguments

 on both sides and I don't know. -I don't think that it really makes any

 difference. You know, the thing that scares me-more than anything now

 is the apathy in both parties, I mean, the distrust that people have in

 general. You know, in the primary in Indiana, what two weeks ago,

 in Indianapolis, eighteen per cent of the people turned out. My God'

 If that's any signal as to what to expect in November, that will be

 tragic. There are an awful lot of people who are turned off, an awful

 lot of party people who are. who in the past, you know, have really

 been good workers and who are now really turned off.

 J.B.: You think that the effect of Watergate is a temporary thing?

 Thomas: Well, what do you mean temporary? I think that we will get over

 it in a few years, but I think that it will probably take the next

 presidential election to straighten it out.

 J.B.: How much has that set the party back, South-wide?

 Thomas: A lot. It set us back a lot in Florida. This fellow, Jerry Thomas,

 switched on December 7, 1972, a month after the general election. We had a






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.