page 17


 whole bunch of other Democrats scheduled to switch and you know, we were

 busy, preoccupied with the inauguration and everything, on Cloud Nine

 and weren't really concerned about it. Everybody was tired from the

 '72 campaign. We could just visualize that '73 was going to be just

 a hell of a good year for us. Then, you know, the can of worms started

 opening up right after the inauguration and of course it has hurt.

 J.B.: How strong is the Wallace movement in Florida?

 Thomas: Very strong.

 J.B.: Let's assume for a minute that Askew gets elected, for the sake of

 my question. If he gets re-elected and then runs against Wallace in a

 presidential primary in Florida, which would be only Democrats voting, how

 do you think he would come out?

 Thomas: How would Askew come out? Well, things would have to change an

 awful lot for him to do any better, Wallace would beat Askew in Florida two

 to one. I think that Wallace is that powerful here. That's why I say

 that Jerry Thomas will beat Askew, because we are just going to prove to

 the electorate this fall that Askew is not a conservative. No way is he

 a conservative and as of right now, and I don't know what your brother

 tells you in Pensacola, but Askew couldn't carry his home county right now.

 And naturally, he was their darling in '70. They put up a lot of money for

 him, a hometown.boy and nobody thought that he had a chance. But he

 could not carry his own county now.

 W.D.V.: Why not?

 Thomas: Because they fear that he is a turncoat. That he has forsaken

 them. And he has in many ways not just he has made some

 tactical blunders besides his philosophical blunders. The tactical

 things are that he doesn't return calls to people that supported him when




From the Southern Oral History Program, #4007, Interview *-60 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.