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Wheel & Deal. Last week each of the big Democratic six was somehow behaving in keeping with his presidential po tential. Hubert Humphrey was aboard the S.S. Liberte, bounding about on the promenade deck, shaking hands and making friends, on his way to Paris for UNESCO meetings that will help him in his role as a leading Democratic foreign policy spokesman. Bob Meyner was in his Trenton statehouse wondering how to get overseas next year in an effort to overcome admitted shortcomings in the foreign policy field ("I can't afford to go on my own hook, and if I let somebody pay for me, people will say, 'Who the hell does this guy think he is?' ").
Lyndon Johnson was on his LBJ Ranch in Texas answering telephone calls from newly elected Democrats, greeting visitors, wheeling and dealing as the Democratic Party's leader-in-action. Pat Brown, who needs to get himself known outside California, was off on a get-acquainted tour, visiting such elder Democrats as Adlai Stevenson, Averell Harriman and Harry Truman. Stu Symington was vacationing in Puerto Rico; his strategy has been to keep quiet and let his competitors knock one another off. And Jack Kennedy was campaigning in Alaska—just as he has been campaigning ever since 1956 in a marathon effort to make friends and influence people.
Humphrey: Leading Liberal
Of all the Big Six, Minnesota's Humphrey appeared to have gained the most from the 1958 elections—but he had a lot of ground to make up. Before the elections, Humphrey probably stood behind both Michigan's Governor G. Mennen Williams and New York's Governor Averell Harriman as the strongest entry from the Democratic Fair Dealing wing. But Harriman was torpedoed in the elections, "Soapy" Williams ran fifth on his state ticket—and Humphrey moved past them both.
Hubert Humphrey masterminded his-Minnesota Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party to a sweeping 1958 victory (TIME, Nov. 17) and still managed to roll up 20,000 miles campaigning for Democrats in i& states. He is an avowed Fair Dealer, but separates himself from past liberal flops by explaining that he is a "visceral" liberal—strong on farm supports, reclamation, competitive coexistence with Russia, civil rights, etc.—as opposed to an "intellectual" or "New York" liberal — inter ested "only in civil rights and immigra tion." As a Senator. Humphrey has worked hard and with some success at winning the regard of conservative Southern politicos, hut as a presidential candidate, he still cannot realistically expect Southern sup port. This pains Humphrey. "I can do pretty good." he says, "in campaigning among the liberal Southerners." The Humphrey camp bases its strategic presidential planning on the argument that the Democratic balance of power shifted westward in the last elections.