THE CONVENTION: Introducing... the McGovern Machine

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—be permitted to vote when the credentials question came up? And what would constitute a majority on the question—the 1,509 needed to nominate, or the 1,433 that represented a majority after the contested California delegates were subtracted? If McGovern won on California, he had the nomination. If he lost, Humphrey Aide Max Kampelman said hopefully, "he'll completely lose his momentum. That puts his whole count in question."

When the puzzle came to the convention floor, the McGovern organization's performance was a masterpiece of parliamentary infighting. After three days of agonizing over the question with the help of a team of parliamentarians, O'Brien ruled that only a majority of those voting—not 1,509—was necessary to decide credentials disputes.

Before California, a South Carolina challenge came up; the issue was whether nine women should be added to that state's delegation under the reform rules. Anti-McGovern forces hoped to contrive a final vote falling somewhere between 1,433 and 1,509, the so-called twilight zone. Then the A.B.M. forces could raise a point of order about what constituted a majority on challenges, thereby bringing O'Brien's ruling to a vote. In that event, all of the 3,016 delegates except those under challenge in South Carolina could vote on the question—making it much more difficult for the McGovern forces to muster the votes they needed. The majority determined by the South Carolina vote would set the rule for California. Said Kampelman: "The twilight zone is us trying to play roulette."

McGovern's strategists, led by Campaign Manager Gary Hart, had been prepared for just such a maneuver. The week before, McGovern had met with Hart in Washington to work out the floor strategy. The candidate had issued one vital order: the floor leaders for the fight should not all be youthful members of McGovern's own staff but battle-tested convention veterans. Among the 23 chosen were Senators Frank Church, Fred Harris, Abraham Ribicoff and Gaylord Nelson, Wisconsin Governor Pat Lucey, South Dakota Lieutenant Governor William Dougherty, and Hart and Frank Mankiewicz.

The floor leaders, each responsible for several states, had a principal deputy in every state delegation. Moreover they were linked by telephone to McGovern's communications trailer, parked outside the convention hall, and to the candidate's "boiler room" at the Doral Hotel. McGovern Aide Rick Stearns briefed all the McGovern delegates for two hours before the convention, then spent another two hours instructing his 250 whips—one for every six McGovern delegates. Said Stearns: "We feared procedural chicanery."

Although ideologically committed to getting more women seated on the South Carolina delegation, the McGovern agents had to be sure the vote was either above or below the twilight zone. As the vote proceeded, Stearns, who was sitting in the trailer outside, warned Hart on the floor that the count looked uncomfortably close. With that, McGovern's aides began shaving their total, pulling votes away from the women's position in order to make their challenge lose by a sufficient margin. Humphrey's forces—and some TV commentators—at first read the tallies as an indication that McGovern was in serious trouble. From the floor, the