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(Governor Alfred E. Driscoll (R) - His legacy: The New Jersey Turnpike)

The world of politics seems to be one endless procession of bright lights, sterling hopefuls and utter flame-outs.

During the 1948 Presidential campaign, the name Alfred E. Driscoll was bandied about as a possible vice-Presidential running mate with Thomas E. Dewey on the Republican ticket. It surfaced again in 1952. But neither panned out and New Jersey Governor Driscoll quietly faded from the public scene after leaving office in 1954. His legacy, it would appear, are a number of bridges along with championing the cause of the New Jersey Turnpike.

At the time though, (1948) eyes were trained on him as serious Capitol Hill material, as is evidenced by this rather lively discussion on an early incarnation of Meet The Press regarding the postmortem on the 1948 election and the disastrous defeat for the Republican party.

Lawrence Spivak: “Fortunately, I have before me Governor, Clarence Buddington Kelland’s quotation on the campaign. Mister Davis, a moment ago asked you about it and I’d like to read it to you and see if you agree or disagree with what he said. He said ‘Dewey’s campaign was smug, arrogant, stupid and supercilious. No issues were stated or faced.’ You think that was true of the Republican campaign, that they failed to state their issues or face them?”

Governor Driscoll: “ Well I would like to enter an emphatic denial on the first part of . . that statement. I think that the Republican party did fail for reasons that are now apparent, which were perhaps not apparent at that time. To adequately state and fight the issues.”

Although it's clear Driscoll wasn't up for exchanging fistfuls of mud with the panel, his answers give some indication where the Republican party's troubles lay in 1948. And one could say the same for the election of 2008, sixty years later.

Some things don't change.

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(Republican angst - hand wringing is timeless)

As the election returns poured in proclaiming Harry Truman the surprise winner in 1948 (much to the dismay of the Mainstream Media, who had declared Thomas Dewey, the Republican candidate, the winner by a landslide, even before votes were counted), a stunned Republican Party wondered aloud if this spelled the end of the GOP.

Clearly, history proved otherwise, but in 1948 it was the subject of much gnashing of teeth, weeping and soul searching on behalf of pundits and party members alike.

On December of 1948, a few weeks after the stunning upset, The University of Chicago Round Table hosted a panel discussing the subject "Is the Republican Party Over?". The panel featured Senators Raymond E. Baldwin (R - Conn.), Ralph E. Flanders (R- Vermont) and Congressman Clifford Hope (R-Kansas). The moderator Robert Horn set the tone:

Robert Horn: “I am a Republican and I am disturbed about the future of the Republican Party. After the shock of the election, I am beginning to wonder like millions of others what the future holds for the Republican Party or whether it has any future. This year marked the fifth consecutive defeat for Republican Presidential candidates. This Presidential election was the closest one since 1916. But Governor Dewey in 1948 received fewer votes than he got in 1944, although more votes were cast this year than in 1944. And Republican Congressional candidates generally ran below Dewey this year. In fact, Governor Dewey received only 600,000 more votes than Herbert Hoover received in 1928, although there are many more million potential and actual voters now than there were twenty years ago. Moreover, this fifth consecutive defeat means that the Republicans by 1952 will be out of the White House for the longest time that either the Democrats or the Republicans have been out of power since the end of the Civil War. The Republicans can no longer claim to be the majority part of the country. Many people are saying that unless the Republican Party changes it will die. If I were a Democrat I would also be disturbed about the future of the Republican Party.”

The obvious difference between the Republican Party of 1948 and the Republican Party of 2009 is the absence of the lunatic fringe then, which today appears to be driving away all those sane and moderate voices that would otherwise aid in the healing process and perhaps steer the party in a constructive direction.

Nothing like that appears to be anywhere on the horizon I'm afraid.