What Else?

Nothing, but what astonishes, is true.

British Poet Edward Young's line, written in 1742, serves perfectly to describe the endlessly astonishing politics of 1968. From the snow frolics of New Hampshire to Senator Mark Hatfield's endorsement of Richard Nixon last week, the body politic has been atwitch with major shocks and minor jolts. It is a year when absolutely anything seems possible, and a lot of people are wondering--half-humorously, half-resignedly--what else might be in store politically. For example:

> Lyndon Johnson, having withdrawn from the race to heal national divisions, barges back in for the sake of Democratic unity. He and Eugene McCarthy reason together until Lyndon's logic or Gene's exhaustion persuades McCarthy to run for Vice President. And Hubert Humphrey? Franklin Roosevelt set a precedent for dealing with discarded Veeps when he dumped Henry Wallace in 1944 and then appointed him Secretary of Commerce.

> Against all odds, McCarthy goes on to win the nomination himself, then drafts Humphrey as his running mate (experience counts). To circumvent the constitutional problem raised by having two candidates from the same state, Team Player Humphrey relocates to an apartment over the family drugstore in Huron, S. Dak.

>Spurned by the Democratic Convention, McCarthy helps organize the independent party that he has been talking about but refuses to lead the movement. That opens the way for Dr. Benjamin Spock, if he is still free on bail.

> George Wallace's American Independent Party wins enough Deep South states to force selection of the next President into the House of Representatives. With one vote for each state delegation, a handful of Wallaceites prove crucial. What price their support? If not repeal of the 13th and 14th Amendments, an ambassadorship to South Africa for George, at the very least.

>Rockefeller wins the Republican nomination in the biggest surprise since Herbert Hoover won two Democratic primaries in 1920 before announcing that he was a Republican. Stuck for a running mate, Rockefeller drafts fellow New Yorker Nixon (experience counts). Nixon moves back to Whittier, Calif., near the site of the old family grocery. His name becomes No. 780,414 on a currently circulating petition to recall Governor Ronald Reagan, thus allowing the measure to go to a vote.

> By August, Democratic and Republican leaders decide that all the talk about new politics and the need for change has made all the principal contenders obsolete. In Miami Beach, the Republicans nominate Jacob Javits and Edward Brooke. In Chicago, the Democrats pick Abe Fortas and Carl Stokes. The big issue in the ensuing campaign is unrest in the suburbs.

> It turns out that the real reason Earl Warren resigned was to get back into presidential politics. He accepts second place on Nixon's ticket, thus bringing unity between the Coasts and--even more difficult--between the feuding factions of the G.O.P., both nationwide and in California. For the first time in its modern history, the Golden State has a united party, and in the boredom that follows, California begins losing population back to New York.

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