Nation: NOW THE REPUBLIC

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Collapsed Movement. Vote projections by the networks and the wire services bounced about a bit between Monday and Wednesday, while Rockefeller men insisted on talking about the "erosion" of Nixon's strength. The most accurate count, as it turned out, was by the Nixon organization, which earlier had talked about 700 and privately refined its calculations to 702. Needed to be nominated: 667. As the nominating speeches droned on, Nixon visited his command trailer outside the hall and got word that a first-ballot victory was assured.

As the roll call progressed, it was obvious that Nixon was faring exactly as he had expected. The candidate, watching television and keeping his own tally in his penthouse suite, could have noted in the first several states an extra vote here and there beyond his minimal requirements. Then Florida and Georgia came through with large majorities—evidence that the Reagan movement had collapsed. Maryland delivered 18 out of 26. Four Michiganders deserted Romney. Mississippi's unit rule held for the entire delegation of 20. The undermining of Case's position in New Jersey produced a welcome 18 out of 40. In Pennsylvania, Nixon picked up 22 more.

By the bottom fifth of the alphabetical listing, the fight was really over. After West Virginia, Nixon had 650, and Wisconsin's 30, won in that state's primary, broke through the magic number to make it 680. Wyoming added its twelve, for a first-ballot total of 692, compared with 277 for Rockefeller, 182 for Reagan and 182 sprinkled elsewhere. It was even less of a race than it seemed. Nixon had reserve votes in several favorite-son delegations that he could have called upon if necessary. Minnesota Congressman Ancher Nelsen, one of the nine whips working the floor for Nixon, had only one complaint: "We got rather hungry. Getting a hot dog—that was the biggest crisis we had." Floor Manager Rogers Morton told reporters: "The only time I got worried was when my shirttail came out and I couldn't get it back in."

Coffee and Cokes. Nixon won with no help at all from California and Massachusetts and only token support from three of the other large states, New York, Ohio and Michigan. He owed his victory to Illinois, most of the smaller states in the West and Middle West, and particularly to the South and the Border States. Excluding Arkansas, which stayed with Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, 14 Southern and Border States delivered 298 votes, or 45% of the number needed to nominate. Thus Nixon's determination to keep the South happy.

It was after 2 a.m. Thursday when the voting ended. With scarcely time out for a round of congratulations, the candidate plunged into a round robin of meetings with advisers, aides and party leaders about the vice-presidential nomination. Ten days earlier, he had sent notes to a number of supporters, asking them to send suggestions to a post office box in New York, "anonymously, if you prefer." Whether he got any ideas from that source was not clear, but he did arrive in Miami with Agnew definitely on his mind.