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Everything went Teddy's way. At one point, a worker buttonholed him and said: "Teddy, me boy, they say you've never worked a day in your life." After an uneasy pause, the man added: "Let me tell you, you haven't missed a thing." Wherever Teddy went, he won the women. The old ones wanted to mother him, the young ones wanted to marry him. "Isn't he a doll!" shrieked secretaries from Revere to Westfield. In Chicopee a beaming group from the Polish Women's Citizens' Club listened to his talk, then rushed forward to chat with him over coffee and cupcakes. Cried Lucy Wisniowski: "I love that Kennedy family."
In his speeches Kennedy pounded away at international, national, state and local issues. He favored a jet airport for Worcester, pollution control on the Merrimack River, a federal highway in the Berkshires. His message was deadly serious, if not profound. "I think we can get new industries for Massachusetts. I have promised to go out and visit the major corporations of the country, and tell them the advantages of Massachusetts. I have a particular interest in the education of the young people, especially school dropouts, because I think this is one of our great natural concerns. I feel as we move through the 19603 that we must have the kind of transportation, the kind of urban renewal, the kind of increase in job opportunities that will make our state grow. I vigorously support a health-care program for our senior citizens that should be financed under the social security system." Merciful End. Toward campaign's end, Eddie McCormack was standing almost alone on the tailgate of a station wagon and forlornly pleading his cause: "Look at the record—Eddie McCormack has a record." As Teddy swept on, Eddie turned bitter. "Of course I'm hurt," he said privately. "I think it's unjust that he should even try for the nomination. Two years ago. I led all candidates in this state at the polls. Right now I hold the most important elective office held in this state by a Democrat. Then along came Teddy Kennedy out of the blue. If this is politics, if they can get away with this, then I don't want any part of politics."
On primary day, symbolically, Speaker John McCormack attracted almost no attention when he returned to Massachusetts to vote. But President Kennedy and Jackie drew an excited audience when they helicoptered in from Newport. (Jackie got confused in the booth, had to call on the President for some husbandly assistance with the voting machine.) That night, the end came with merciful speed at 8:32, when an aide handed a slip of paper to Teddy Kennedy's brother-in-law, Steve Smith. "Here's where Knocko lives." he said. It was South Boston's Ward 7. Precinct 5. Knocko had been Democratic leader there for 30 years. The count was Kennedy 396, McCormack 347.
When the avalanche had run its course, McCormack vowed he would never again run for public office. Without breaking stride, the new Democratic candidate for the Senate began to prepare for the campaign against Republican Lodge and H. Stuart Hughes, 46, a Harvard history professor and grandson of onetime Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who was running as an independent.