(3 of 10)
Air Force One-and-a-Half. His enjoyment of his new, liberated role is palpable, his optimism unbounded. He is starting late and missing the primaries, but he dismisses those as "spring training, the grapefruit league," necessary only for those who need to build a national reputation. He has already visited 600 towns and cities in all 50 states since becoming Vice President. He will be returning to a lot of them, of course, and to speed his way he has chartered an imposingly appointed Boeing 727 that will replace his aging official Convair. The President flies in Air Force One, the Veep in Two; Humphrey aides have been calling his plane Air Force One-and-a-Half for some time. This week he is scheduled to visit Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois.
He promises to "fight hard" for the nomination. Until recently, it seemed that no Humphrey fight would be hard enough. His early reputation as a sectional, dogmatic, abrasively self-righteous radical evaporated some time ago, to be replaced by an equally detrimental image as the uncritical apologist for an unpopular Administration. Many have denounced him for out-Lyndoning Johnson on the war. Others think that he is really too nice a guy to run a successful national campaign, too soft to fire anyone who needs firing. Even his power base in Minnesota seemed to dissolve. To some it appears that political evolution is fossilizing his once and future promise.
In the TV age, he remains a master of the meeting-hall peroration. At a time when personal political networks count for more than the traditional party organization, he has none to speak of. In an era when a fresh face and youthful persona are worth 1,000 platitudes and millions of votes, Humphrey, who will be 57 on May 27, is the old man of the competition, in danger of seeing his many and distinguished accomplishments of 23 years in elective office dissipated by overexposure. Even to some of his friends, he seems the eternal boy next door, fated to be jilted again in favor of any sexy corsair passing through town. Except that this time the rivals—Senators Kennedy and McCarthy—are already in town, assiduously awooing. When Johnson renounced his candidacy on March 31, the tears that welled up in Humphrey's eyes could as well have been for himself as for his chief.
Forced Pause. Then came April. In this year when political bettors would be best advised to try the ponies, it was altogether typical that the expected spring showers of support for Kennedy never fell. Most indicators, to be sure, showed Bobby ahead, but his lead is far from decisive. In the Louis Harris Poll among Democrats, Kennedy actually dropped two points after Johnson's renunciation, to 37%, and Humphrey came in second with 24% while his candidacy was still in the open-secret stage. McCarthy trailed with 22%.