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Levin Smooths Out Rifts With Soft-Key Persuasion

Levin Smooths Out Rifts With Soft-Key Persuasion image
Parent Issue
Day
3
Month
June
Year
1968
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
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DETROIT - Some call him a mediator rather than a leader; others characterize him as a "limping liberal with a law degree," while some say he can't handle the job of state chairman of the Democratic party - but Sander Levin just keeps rolling along as leader of the Democrats. The 36-year-old state senator from Berkley received his baptismal fire yesterday during the Democratic State Convention, and came out unloved by some but regarded by most Democrats as a soft-key persuader who can get a job done. And it was a normal convention, for Michigan Democrats. There was bickering over seating delegates, over procedures, . Ever how many votes Humphrey, , Kennedy or McCarthy had among the 102 delegates who'll go to Chicago next August. In point of deed Levin has yet to be proven. In point of time he is very much like Neil Staebler, famed state chairman of the 1950s, who drove the party to its greatest heights. In point of endurance Levin appears like Staebler - able, educated, academic, nervy and ready to last out the most vocal with logic and argument. He rose to power in the party in a detached manner. He is a second term state senator and his chief contribution up to now was serving as convention reached an agreement and everybody seems satisfied. A quick-shooter could have caused lots of trouble. In private moments Levin may admit that Humphrey has a firm hold on the majority of Michigan's 96 convention votes, but he quickly disavows the "numbers game." "What we want is all the delegates to keep their options open until convention time, or at least until they've had a chance to hear all the candidates to see what they offer," he says. "There's plenty of time left." Whatever Levin does to keep tne party as a going political unit, it's doubtful that after yesterday he can hold the delegates uncommitted. The "raiding" by Humphrey and Kennedy, men has already started, and each side is claiming the majority if not all delegates. "The boys are shooting from the hip," says Levin, "and one or the other will come back late in August and be forced to , pick up the pieces." [man two years ago. When Zolton A. Ferency, after five years as chairman, began to get in trouble with some segments of the party, leaders began to look closely at Levin. Here, they believed, was a man who could bring party elders and rank-and-file and Democratic legislators together in mutual understanding. Ferency seldom worked harmoniously with the Legislature. State chairman since last December, Levin says, "I'm not a loner in politics or decision making. I consider results based on discussion to be stronger than the quick answer." Thus he is different than Ferency who made snap decisions and often shot from the hip with quips, at friend and foe. "When you shoot from the hip," Levin says, "You got to go back and piek up the pieces. Firmness based on intelligence is the way to get things done." "You don't have to be loud and raucous to be strong. I want everybody to get a fair shake, to participate in the party though it doesn't mean they have to win. Some want to guarantee that Michigan Democrats will come out for either Kennedy or Humphrey right now. That's wrong. What we must do is create interest in the party and what it's doing. "So I may be a mediator, as some say. But that's one way to get action in an atmosphere that's conducive to party stability, unity and growth." Several days before the state I convention Negro leaders de-l manded expanded representa-l tion on the delégate list. To some, their demands appeared out-of-line; to Levin it was just another problem. ' "We talked it out," he says. "We didn't panic and we didn'tl\ choose up sides. And so wel