Push Without Pressure

WHO SHALL LEAD US? asked the big black headline over a full-page political advertisement in 19 top U.S. newspapers. The lavish, $50,000 ad, signed by 181 big and little names, answered its big question with the name of Lyndon B. Johnson, went on to suggest that readers write or wire Johnson "to urge him to become an active candidate." The suggestion was hardly necessary: although still coyly undeclared as a candidate for the Democratic nomination, L.B.J. was, as his slogan says, "all the way"--as active as any candidate on the road last week. His campaign was belatedly gathering momentum.

He played hard and skillfully on his reputation for mature responsibility as majority leader of the U.S. Senate, presenting himself as the statesmanlike unity candidate who can rise above politics in time of peril. Against the new backdrop of U.S.-Russian turmoil, he deftly flicked Kennedy's youth and inexperience. Talking to delegates and delegate bosses, he commiserated over the bandwagon pressures of the Kennedy organization.

He had been impressed. Johnson noted in Reno, "by the determination of the delegates to make up their own minds. They're resentful of the idea that they're sewed up." Commented South Dakota's big-voiced Governor Ralph Herseth after a whirlwind Johnson visit: "He made no attempt to pressure us or sweep anyone off his feet. It should improve his position with our delegates."

In Idaho, Johnson's gentle politicking increased the Johnson count from one to eight delegates, with a good chance of picking up six more (and with them, after the first ballot, control of the unit-rule delegates) by convention time. At a testimonial dinner for Governor Pat Brown in Los Angeles, Johnson's impassioned plea for national unity in the face of Khrushchev's threats brought his audience to its feet in an ovation, and--according to the experts--added 15 to 20 delegates to his California score. But in New Mexico Johnson suffered a setback when Kennedy personally led a raid on the state convention and carried off six or seven of the state's 17 convention delegates.

Johnson bubbled with confidence over his stepped-up campaign. So did his old Texas mentor, House Speaker Sam Rayburn, who claimed that Johnson would arrive at the Los Angeles convention a month hence with "a very minimum of 500 votes" (needed to win: 761). Johnson had not noticeably taken any delegates from Jack Kennedy, whose aides are airily claiming 700 convention votes on the second ballot. Johnson's strength was still based on the 319 of the South (including Texas) and any sizable increase was likely to come from Symington forces if Symington's chances seemed clearly doomed. But the Johnson campaign had bucked up the Kennedy holdouts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and California. And Lyndon Johnson himself had moved strongly into position as the last serious hope of the stop-Kennedy forces.

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