Alberg, Phillips Take Duel To National YR Convention

The battle which split the HYRC in April will be carried into the National Young Republican convention starting June 22. Tom A. Alberg '62, current HYRC president, and Howard J. Phillips '62, recently elected Massachusetts YR College Chairman, are emerging as top contenders for the national college chairmanship.

"I think we are going to win it," Alberg declared yesterday. As New England regional chairman he appears to have nearly all of the New England states sowed up, and claims in addition his home state, Washington, and "the entire northwest region."

Phillips, who is a national director of the Young Americans for Freedom and who served in various posts in the Nixon-Lodge campaign, is more cautious. "My chances depend on the appropriate combination of preparation and opportunities." Working hard to secure his position, the ultra-conservative student has traveled extensively in his search for votes.

The two Harvard contestants fear opposition from the midwest far more than they do each other. Phillips feels that Alberg "has as many votes now as he can hope to get," leaving other men with "far greater potential." Reviewing the situation, Alberg maintained he did not "see where Phillips will get his support."

Midwest Crucial

In the crucial midewest, the situation is muddled. The recent winner of the regional chairmanship fight is a YAF director, and possibly friendly to Phillips if he doesn't run himself. However, the current national chairman, still a YR power, may decide to back a candidate from his home state of Wisconsin.

To Phillips, Alberg looks like the "liberal candidate," and he concedes "practically all the liberal votes" to the HYRC chief. Claiming that "a liberal can't win it." Alberg classifies himself as "on the conservative side of Nixon."

While Alberg asserts the conservatives are definitely in control, Phillips views the race as a "major" liberal-conservative test which might "have great repercussions... to the extent where we could elect a President by 1972."