Oklahoma Prairie Fire

Determined voters braved heavy rain to get to the polls in Oklahoma last week. The main attraction was the contest for Governor in the Democratic primary, and the result of the record turn out was a resounding defeat for incumbent David Hall, 44. The Governor, who won only 27% of the votes, will not even get a chance to compete in the mid-September runoff. That opportunity now goes to first-term Congressman Clem McSpadden, 48, a pop ular singing cowboy and rodeo announcer, and Baptist University Professor David Boren, 33, a Rhodes scholar whose unexpected political ascent is being compared to a prairie fire.

Hall won high marks for upgrading education and improving prison care and health services, but they were erased in the electorate's view by the still unproved charges of the misuse of campaign funds and the receipt of kickbacks that have dogged his administration.

Both McSpadden and Boren stressed reform, McSpadden with the slogan "Honestly, there is a difference," and Boren by dubbing his organization "the Broom Brigade" and promising a clean sweep in November.

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