Was That Stew's Hat Sailing into Ring?

              1-18-65 TUCSON DAILY CITIZEN 
PAGE 4 
TURPIN ON POLITICS 
 
Was That Stew's Hat Sailing Into Ring? 
 
By TED TURPIN 
Citizen Political Writer 
 
PHOENIX - At the State Legislature they're still talking about Stewart Udall's Thursday speech. 
 
Not about what the U.S. secretary of the interior said, you understand - but about what he didn't say. As one bemused state representative asked: "Now, why would he fly a couple of thousand miles to say nothing?" 
 
The plain truth is that Stew's much heralded, unprecedented address to the joint session of Arizona's House and Senate contained not one significant bit of new information - about water, conservation, recreation, education, or any other subject. 
 
So again: Why did he make the appearance? 
 
Republicans may be jumping at shadows, of course (they have cause to be a little spooky these post-November days), but they think they know the answer. 
 
"Well, he's off and running," said one. 
 
The implication was that Udall, who rose from a little-known Arizona Congressman to one of the best known (and most enduring) members of the Kennedy - Johnson cabinets, is doing some early campaigning for the U.S. Senate. 
 
Since Paul Fannin was just sworn in the other day to succeed Barry Goldwater in the Senate, it follows that Udall-if he actually is Senate-minded, and I'm among those who think he is - must be looking at the seat now held by Carl Hayden. 
 
Sen. Hayden's term, of course, doesn't end until 1968. And frail though the ancient Arizonan looks, he has outlasted and outlived men who thought his job would be vacant long since. 
 
But even Carl Hayden can't go on forever, and Hayden and his close associates are certainly aware of this. So Democratic politicians throughout Arizona are intensely interested in developing an heir - apparent, preferably a popular, well-known one that can win. 
 
Stew Udall may be just the boy. 
 
Uppermost in Democratic minds is the fear that Barry Goldwater, who clearly enjoyed the U.S. Senate during his 12 years there, will be the GOP candidate to succeed Hayden. 
 
There's no doubt that Goldwater would be a strong candidate for the office. And the thought of Arizona having not just one, but two, Republican U.S. senators is enough to give state Democrats the cold shivers. 
 
Especially if one of them is named Goldwater. 
 
There are plenty of good arguments that Udall could beat a Goldwater challenge for the Senate-and perhaps might be the only Arizona Democrat who could. A few of them: 
 
Udall's prestige has swelled tremendously since he joined the Cabinet in 1961. Should Carl Hayden, who currently carries the state's hopes for solving its water problems, be unavailable, who better to succeed him than a former Secretary of the Interior? 
 
These factors, plus the votedrawing power of the Udall name in Arizona, add up to making Stew a formidable candidate. 
 
On the other hand, this Udall lacks the charm and outward warmth of brother Mo, who represents Southern Arizona in Congress. He's still not a highly polished public speaker, as his appreance before the legislature demonstrated. 
 
He told the senators and representatives about progress of major Southwestern water legislation, as expected-but disappointed most of his listeners by offering no new information. There have been recent (unspecified) agreements reached, he said, between Arizona and California interests, which brighten the picture for a regional water conservation plan. 
 
Nothing new there; he had said it before. Not in front of the legislature, though. 
 
Neither did Stew urge unity within the state as regards water problems, which many expected him to. Instead, he talked reminiscently and at length about his Arizona background his love for the state, and challenge of the future. 
 
Those are good sentimen But they could be campatalk, too.