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Indeed, the idea of remaking the party seemed to excite him more than the chance of gaining the presidency. "We have tested the process and found its weaknesses," he said. "We'll make this party in 1972—perhaps 1970—quite different from what we found it in Chicago!" McCarthy was not boasting idly, and his insurgents were already planning for 1972, many of them hoping for a Nixon victory this fall to "purify" the Democratic Party by defeat. Even while they were losing in Chicago, the McCarthyites won concessions, such as abolition of the unit rule, that will make future conventions more democratic. The party, in any event, cannot ignore the talented young people who have stormed its fortress. "People know we have power now," said Tom Saltonstall, one of the Senator's downy-faced staffers from Massachusetts. "And we're going to keep using it. We'd be negating everything we've done for the past nine months if. we drop out now."
The New Party. Not everyone, however, believes the Democratic Party can be either reformed or purified. Anticipating Humphrey's convention victory, organizers of an entirely new party—called, unsurprisingly "the New Party" —have already put their organization on the ballot in five states: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota and Oregon. They claim enough signatures to win places in New York and Tennessee, and are trying as well to go before the voters in 18 more, including such electoral prizes as California, Ohio and Illinois. (The filing date has already passed in most other states.)
All that is lacking is a candidate. McCarthy would be the perfect choice, and New Party leaders, mostly disillusioned Democrats, still have faint hopes of persuading him to bolt the Democrats entirely. He has given them little encouragement. In any event, his candidacy would be only symbolic. Even if it won all of its rights and court suits, the New Party would still be on the ballot in only 25 states with a combined total of 290 electoral votes (270 are needed for election).
Yet even without McCarthy, the New Party might hurt Humphrey. In a tight election, it might pull enough liberal and peace votes away from the Democratic candidate to give the election to Nixon. Even a few thousand votes could be decisive in California and New York, the centers of the peace movement. No Democrat in modern times has won election without one of the two most populous states. Actually, however, the New Party men are looking to future elections, when they hope to displace the Democratic Party. "I think the Democratic Party is lost," says Marcus Raskin, a former disarmament aide to President Kennedy who is one of the New Party's chief proponents and organizers. "What happened here this week shows that it now represents only the party bosses, the police and the military."