THE next President of the United States," grinned Hubert Humphrey before a partisan audience in St. Paul last week, "is going to be a Democrat from Minnesota. And whoever he is, I'm going to support him." Beneath the familiar air of cheer, however, the Vice President was a troubled man. He retains a long lead in delegate strength over the other Democrat from Minnesota (see box). But as he emerged from a fortnight of seclusion and contemplation following Robert Kennedy's assassination, he faced a thicket-of intangible and all-too-tangible brambles.
The Democratic Party is seriously divided, and some members profess a sense of gloom about November. Every primary from New Hampshire to California has revealed serious disaffection with the Johnson Administration. Last week's New York primary was no exception. There, Humphrey's delegates and the Senate candidate supporting him ran a poor third while Eugene McCarthy's forces triumphed in a surprising show of strength.
His Own Man. When Humphrey, who can point to one of the most effective civil rights records of any public figure, appeared at the poor people's Solidarity Day rally in Washington, he was spontaneously booed. Wherever he stepped, the long umbilical cord of the Administration seemed to trip him up.
Humphrey's problem is to disassociate himself from the status quo without appearing to disown the President, which would do him no good either at the convention or in November's election. Bill Moyers, Johnson's former press secretary and a Humphrey friend, put the problem into embarrassingly sharp focus. On a radio program he suggested that it was time for Humphrey "to say publicly what he has been feeling privately" about Viet Nam. According to Moyers, Humphrey is deeply disturbed about "present policies."
Humphrey has been keenly aware of the necessity to re-establish his political identity. He entered the campaign two months ago proclaiming: "I am my own man," but proving it is something else. To break with the Administration on Viet Nam would be an act of disloyalty and, in the eyes of many, an admission that he has been living a lie. His first angry reaction to Moyers' comment: "I can stand people opposing me because they think I am wrong, or even stupid. But I will not have anyone oppose me because they think I'm a hypocrite." Even so, he was careful to emphasize last week his commitment to a nonmilitary solution. "The American people want an honorable, genuine settlement," he said. "They want to get on with the works of peace. So do I. I always have."
Captain of the Team. In his first public appearance since the assassination, before the National Press Club in Washington, Humphrey was very much on the defensive. Stung by criticism that he is a practitioner of the old politics and a standpat factor in the new equation, Humphrey declared: "I believe in change. I believe strongly in change. I've been a man of change." At another point, he declared: "Hubert Humphrey as Vice President is a member of the team. Hubert Humphrey as President is captain of the team. There's a lot of difference."