ALTHOUGH 1967 is not a year divisible by four, it is already a year of frenetic political activity aimed at the next presidential sweepstakes. Thus our editors whipped out their form charts, consulted their ample experience of past races, and sent out requests to our correspondents for the most reliable stable in formation. The result is this week's cover story on the Big Event of 1968. Written by Ronald Kriss and edited by Michael Demarest, the story surveys the entire field of likely candidates, professed noncandidates plus a few dark horses, listing their handicaps and assessing their chances.

To draw the cover, we called on Cartoonist Paul Conrad, who is not much of a racing fan but has a keen eye for political horseflesh. Although this is his first magazine cover, his witty vignettes have often appeared in TIME'S pages. At 42, one of the country's top editorial cartoonists, Conrad has his home base at the Los Angeles Times, but 150 other newspapers use his work, which illustrates Aldous Huxley's observation that caricature is the "most penetrating" of criticism.

Conrad's likenesses are subtly distorted and require a few moments of savoring contemplation to reveal the full flavor. In our cover, Conrad uses color as well as line to make his points: the silks worn by the political jockeys are meaningful. Lyndon B. Johnson is resplendent in purple, the royal color, but burdened with weights: a difficult war, the clamor for peace, and L.B.J. himself. After all, what with "image" difficulties and credibility gaps, the President can be his own worst handicap. Peering out from behind Johnson is Bobby Kennedy in shamrock green. Behind him is an aloof Hubert Humphrey, only slightly touched by the presidential purple (some people are more purple than others).

The once famous dog Checkers is recalled in Richard Nixon's checkered silks. As for Ronald Reagan's polka dots, Democrat Conrad says in a frankly partisan spirit that they represent a clown's suit--or, to put it more politely, theatrical attire. George Romney and Nelson Rockefeller are done in "recessive" blue; that is not a political assessment, but only Conrad's way of pushing them back in the perspective of the picture. And the red and white stripes on Percy? Replies the artist, who may possibly have more political savvy than he realizes: "This just brings him out."

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