In his first week as an official candidate, Hubert Humphrey acquired a zippy, red-striped jetliner and went on his way gathering delegate strength, campaign contributions, popular support and increasing self-confidence. "I'm going to win," he predicted.
His Washington headquarters was in a state of chaos—campaign buttons were in short supply, the phones and elevators unreliable—but the Vice President himself was making harmonious headway toward the Democratic nomination. Maryland's 49-vote delegation adopted a unit rule over the protests of Kennedy and McCarthy supporters, virtually assuring Humphrey of all 49 votes. In a brief visit to New York City, Humphrey sat down to luncheon with a group of Wall Streeters, walked off with pledges of some $750,000 in campaign contributions. With backing from such moneymen as Sidney J. Weinberg of Goldman, Sachs & Co.; John L. Loeb of Carl M. Loeb, Rhoades & Co.; John Connor of Allied Chemical Corp.; and Robert Dowling of the City Investing Co., Humphrey's opening kitty may soon pass the $5,000,000 mark.
Evangelist. Back in Washington he made time with the representatives of the National Federation of Italian-American Organizations (Paesano Frank Sinatra is also a Humphrey booster) and got long and loud applause from a U.S. Chamber of Commerce group of 1,200. He criticized "unbelievably high deficits" in the federal budget, charged that the "present welfare system all too often fails both the test of compassion and the test of efficiency." The War on Poverty is not the Office of Economic Opportunity, he said. "The War on Poverty is you."
In Philadelphia, Humphrey demonstrated his still-considerable hold on older, middle-class Negroes when he went before 5,000 delegates to the African Methodist Episcopal Church's quadrennial session. Applause interrupted his speech 66 times as Humphrey promised to formulate "a new and complete national commitment to human rights." The hall resounded with the fervent cries of an old-time revivalist meeting and Humphrev, the old political evangelist, joined the crowd in sineine We Shall Overcome.
Pennsylvania, with its 130 votes, will be a pivotal state at the convention, and Humphrey stands a good chance of controlling much of the delegation. As he met with some 200 state notables and party chiefs, it was estimated that he would collect perhaps 100 delegate votes, with Eugene McCarthy getting most of the balance.
Ohio, with 115 votes, is another key state and, as Humphrey sat down to a Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, the vibrations were encouraging. Earlier, Senator Stephen Young, running in this week's primary as a favorite son, had withdrawn his endorsement of Robert Kennedy. Young urged neutrality until the convention, but a large majority of the delegates are now counted as favorable to Humphrey.