Acedia & Cannonball

Hubert Humphrey's entry into the Democratic race diminished the importance of next week's Indiana primary as a campaign milestone. Still, the results will bear considerably upon the fortunes of both Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy. McCarthy scored impressively in the nation's first three primaries, including last week's Pennsylvania contest, in which as an unopposed candidate he collected 402,000 votes, more than twice as many as he had anticipated. The Indiana confrontation will be his first direct square-off at the polls with the formidable Kennedy and his first opportunity to prove himself as a genuinely viable presidential possibility.

Bobby has the most to lose in Indiana, and the high-powered Kennedy campaign apparatus was tuned last week to near-perfect pitch. Facing McCarthy and the state's favorite son, Governor Roger Branigin, Kennedy has invested prodigious sums of money in planning and publicity. He has also drawn upon that other great family resource: Kennedys. Pitching into his campaign, which included a whistle-stopping run across the state last week aboard his special "Wabash Cannonball Express," were Wife Ethel, Brother Teddy, Sons David and Michael, Daughter Courtney, Sisters Pat Lawford, Jean Smith and Eunice Shriver, Sister-in-Law Joan, Mother Rose and Dog Freckles.

Pepper Same. Almost everywhere, Kennedy attracted impressive and impressed crowds including the middle-aged and elderly as well as the young. In addition to sporting a shorter hairdo, Bobby tried to mollify Indiana conservatives by emphasizing his experience as Attorney General—"the nation's chief law-enforcement officer"—and vowing that under an R.F.K. administration "lawlessness and violence will not be tolerated."

While Kennedy cannonballed, McCarthy's campaign seemed to be suffering from what he likes to call "acedia" —spiritual torpor. He displayed perhaps his best form of the week when he joined a pepper game with reporters outside a Muncie Westinghouse plant and poled three line drives practically out of the factory grounds. More than normally disorganized, McCarthy appeared late for speeches, found his audience sparse and unresponsive. Part of the problem was financial. Though he does not lack for potential campaign contributors, the Minnesotan's nonchalance in seeking funds has left his forces with $100,000 in debts from earlier campaign forays.

The key to victory next Tuesday is Branigin's tightly controlled state party machine, which is allied with many of Indiana's labor leaders. If it runs at top speed, the popular Governor may outdistance both his rivals. But even if it performs only moderately well, it can garner enough votes to prevent either Kennedy or McCarthy from claiming anything significant in the results.