Nation: THE RENUNCIATION

• Share

(7 of 9)

Mad Calliope. Among Democrats, the initial feeling was that Johnson's pull-out would prompt a mad dash for the Kennedy camp. "I was afraid there would be a rush to Bobby," confessed Gene McCarthy. "But it hasn't developed yet." Indeed, the most significant fact in the aftermath of L.B.J.'s speech was the reluctance of Democrats to budge in any direction. "There should be no headlong rush to anyone's bandwagon," advised New Jersey's Governor Richard Hughes, and most politicians heeded him. Chief among the fence sitters was Chicago's mayor, Richard Daley, who is keeping all of his options open at least until the June 11 Illinois primary, and probably until just before the August convention. One Midwestern party leader speculated that Daley would ultimately wind up backing Kennedy. "I think Daley will hold out on Bobby," he said, "until he gets a good haircut and begins talking in a way that doesn't shake the bankers up so much."

Kennedy, of course, is the man to beat. If he crushes McCarthy in Indiana's May 7 primary and if Humphrey fails to work up a head of steam, his campaign is likely to roar into Chicago like a mad calliope, all its pipes ablast. But Bobby has problems. He stands to inherit much of the "hate vote" hitherto directed at Johnson. He has been robbed of his two big targets—the President and the war—though he insisted last week, during a five-state swing: "The war is not over. The election is not over. We cannot afford to relax." Bobby's appeal has been limited mostly to the militant young, Negroes and intellectuals; McCarthy has shown strength in academe, suburbia and, surprisingly, sizable swaths of rural America. But neither has made much headway in the traditional repositories of Democratic strength—the blue-collar ethnic districts of the big cities, and the South.

Getting Interested. That is where Hubert Humphrey's strength may lie.He held off an immediate declaration of candidacy, but he was plainly itching to take the plunge. "You know, I'm getting interested," he told cheering labor leaders in Pittsburgh. And he told the National Federation of Grain Cooperatives in Washington: "I'm perfectly willing to stick around this town a long time."

Humphrey has some grave drawbacks. He is indelibly a part of the Great Society, tarnished by its failures as well as burnished by its successes. His once vivid image has faded in the penumbra of the vice-presidency. He has lost much of his old liberal constituency, and there are still many conservatives who cannot quite believe he has changed his fiery stripes.

Nonetheless, he stands to inherit the support of the party regulars who were standing by Johnson, of labor leaders and of many businessmen. As in Nixon's case, his tireless work for the party has given him "a lot of chips to cash in," as a Democratic state chairman puts it. He has been Johnson's top liaison man with the nation's mayors, has won their affection and in many cases their solid support. Of all the Democratic candidates, he is the most acceptable to the South. Said a Texas Democrat: "I never thought I'd live to see the day when Hubert Humphrey would be the most conservative candidate seeking the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party."