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Kennedy could not reach all 57 Senate Democrats during the holiday period. But he got to most of them, and summarized his appeal this way: "My argument was pretty much the same to each. It was that I felt the job of majority whip was important, that it could be effective, that although the job was not clearly defined, I would try if I won it to make it important to the nation, the Senate and the party." He reminded his colleagues that during Humphrey's tenure as whip, from 1961 through 1964, the Minnesotan had invested the post with dignity and stature; that he had used it to promote the passage of major legislation. "Most liberals," said Kennedy, "felt it important that someone in the leadership should be sensitive to the things they felt strongly about."
Kennedy worked virtually alone as his own campaign manager and advocate. "I suppose some other calls were made," he conceded, "but the people who made them did so on their own." Long, meanwhile, was fighting back with his own appeals. He got important help from lobbyists for the oil industry, which is deeply indebted to Long for his perennial defense of the oil-depletion allowance.
Probably the biggest surprise of the contest was Eugene McCarthy's decision. When he met Kennedy in Washington before the vote, erstwhile Peace Candidate McCarthy explained his decision to support Long, a Viet Nam hawk who has fulsomely praised the police force that battered McCarthy's kids in the Chicago disorders. "I don't know," said McCarthy. "I haven't got anything against Russell Long. I don't see any reason to strike out against him over something this unimportant."
The Minnesotan added the somewhat casuistic argument that a victory for Kennedy would appear to be a reform move while not actually guaranteeing change—and thus that the liberal cause might be hurt in the long run. Those who tried to fathom McCarthy's motives recalled his longtime animosity toward the Kennedys. On the other hand, he had offered Ted his delegates in Chicago. McCarthy is a member of Long's Finance Committee, and Long is the type who punishes his enemies and rewards his friends, with equal vehemence. Yet at least four other members of Long's committee went with Kennedy. As usual, with McCarthy, his meaning and motives remained private.
It turned out that McCarthy's vote was unnecessary. Long and his allies had gone into the caucus outwardly confident of victory. Less generous critics of Long delightedly pictured the Louisianan's mental tortures as he sought to divine which colleagues who had promised to support him actually voted for Kennedy in the secret ballot. Though the votes of many Senators became known through one means or another (see box page 14), some insisted on trying for absolute privacy. Said Montana's Lee Metcalf: "I will know and God will know how I vote. But I will try to keep the man on my left and right in the caucus from knowing."
The New Job