Pennsylvania: Case History of Decay

From Erie in the west to Wilkes-Barre and Scranton in the east, Hubert Humphrey stumped Pennsylvania last week fully aware that if he is to win its 29 electoral votes, he will have to do so largely on his own. The state's Democratic organization has decayed to the point where it simply cannot be counted on to get out the vote. Nor is the situation atypical. In practically every northern, urbanized state—the kind Humphrey must carry if he is to have any chance of winning the election—the party's machinery is in desperate disrepair...