Democrats: Hubert's Nonsecret

"I'd announce it right here," Hubert Humphrey cracked at a State Department ceremony last week, "except that I think you've got enough trouble." His formal announcement is hardly even necessary, since the Vice President has been a hyperactive undeclared candidate almost from the moment that Lyndon Johnson bowed out of the presidential race.

In the three weeks since then, Humphrey has made little secret of his intentions as he sewed together an improbable coalition of big labor and industry, Northern liberals and Southern Governors. Last week, having secured the endorsements of Louisiana's moderate Governor John McKeithen—a possible running mate—and New York City's former Mayor Robert Wagner, the United Democrats for Humphrey, led by Oklahoma's Senator Fred Harris and Minnesota's Walter Mondale, with Harry Truman as honorary chairman, opened up shop in Washington.

This week, when the U.D.H. holds its first major strategy meeting at the Washington Hilton, Humphrey is likely to announce officially what everyone already knows.