Gardner  expressed  great  satisfaction  at  the  re-
sult of  the  interview,  contending  that  Roosevelt
was  acting  in  perfect  good  faith;  that  he  was  not
a  candidate  and  did  not  intend  to  be  a  can-
didate. Kent  agreed  that  they  would  be  justi-
fied in  reaching  that  conclusion  if  Roosevelt's
word  dould  be  relied  on ;  but  thought  that  not-
withstanding his  repeated  assurances  he  might
be  expected  to  break  in  at  any  time  and  attempt
to  carry  off  the  nomination;  that  he  certainly
would  do  so  if  he  thought  he  could  get  away  with
it  and  win  in  the  election  against  a  Democrat.
After  Kent  and  Gardner  had  gone,  Lenroot
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that,  notwithstanding  all
Roosevelt  had  said,  he  was  at  that  very  moment
a  candidate,  but  that  he  would  never  come  out
in  the  open  until  he  had  secured  such  pledges
of  support  as  would  insure  his  nomination  and
also  felt  sure  that  he  could  win  in  the  election.
Arrangements  had  been  made  for  me  to  begin
a  speaking  campaign  extending  through  the
states  of  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  Illinois,  the  latter


554  THE  CAMPAIGN  OF  1912

part  of  December  and  the  first  of  January.
