Nation: THE CANDIDATES UP CLOSE

Two-thirds of his way through the presidential campaign, TIME Correspondents Hays Gorey, who had been covering Hubert Humphrey's campaign, and Simmons Fentress, who had been following Nixon, exchanged assignments. They then met in Manhattan to compare their impressions of the two candidates and their campaigns. Excerpts from their dialogue:

Gorey: After watching the wild, rushing quality of Humphrey's campaign, Nixon's seems like clockwork. Humphrey is about as susceptible to programming as the Marx Brothers.

Fentress: You do get the feeling that Nixon's campaign is as carefully planned as the Normandy invasion, and often the price is a feeling of contrivance. When he was in Buffalo, his schedule read: "8:47 p.m. EDT—R.N. goes to podium. 8:49 p.m. EDT—applause subsides." It did, too.

Gorey: Humphrey seems psychologically incapable of being on time. The reason is talk—whether to a group, a person, even a dog. He can't leave until he has indulged in verbal overkill.

Fentress: Nixon's speeches are perfectly timed—30 to 35 min. With his lead in the polls, Nixon is conserving his energy and avoiding the fatigue that caused him to make mistakes in 1960. He usually gets to bed by midnight and takes weekends on the beach to preserve his suntan for the TV camera. That is an advantage for the press, too, of course.

Gorey: Humphrey started out a bit panicky, but in his closing drive he is a different man from the one who started reeling around the country after Chicago. He is in much better command of himself. He is full of fight and a surprising amount of self-confidence.

Fentress: Yes. He is 12 million miles behind, but I think he has got started, and this election isn't over yet.

Gorey: Humphrey's audiences are responding differently now. Even his disorganization is helping him project more warmth. Humphrey is a "people man. He gets his ideas by and while talking. His campaign has an engaging "what the hell, let's see what happens" atmosphere about it.

Fentress: There is undoubtedly something in the Humphrey campaign that you don't see in Nixon's. I think his campaign style—a combination of "Give 'em hell" and "Pour on the bread and butter"—is just catching on. Winning is another thing.

Gorey: Nixon, by contrast, is almost excessively organized, even in his mannerisms. If he is asked a question he has answered 100 times before, he gives an agonized expression, as if anguished about how to answer.

Fentress: Even so, Nixon has mellowed a great deal. I think the defeats of 1960 and 1962 contributed to that. He is a bigger man than he was in 1960. The old Nixon was a political alley fighter who would throw the word treason around rather freely. He doesn't do that now, but he might be capable of it again if it seemed necessary.