European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 7, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse                              7 196i the stars and stripes b Page Humphrey s headache demo apathy although lows Mccarthy Backer really a of i till Hai a Chanco Ifni next fat s. On vice president hum lev s Calendar in t the August o mention. If. The. November election because the Prospect is that he Basic National Majori Flora Lewis a of democrats won t turn out to vote. The Gallop and Harris polls both How Humphrey or Mccar thy beating Nixon handily. But the polls asked people whom they would prefer. They leave out a key question will you be sure to vote and the signs now Are that while Nixon would t draw much from independents and democrats huge numbers of regular democrats would cold shoulder Humphrey and stay Home. So Nixon has cause for optimism because winning is get Ting More Voltes than your rival no matter How few people Voto. The vice president s aides know that the negroes Hie Spanish americans Tho Young Are just not interested in a Humphrey Nixon race. But wait until Hubert really opens up his aides say with less than ringing Confidence. The old fire is still  they say it but they have Al ready seen that the fire in t catching. Nothing yet has brought out the infectious enthusiasm that Humphrey had Learned to expect and that to loves and needs for his own morale As Well As for Victory. The likelihood of a fight Over seating the Mississippi Freedom party at the convention is positively welcomed by Humphrey s aides this year. Instead of dread ing a show of party dissension on the race Issue they look for Ward to the Chance for some Humphrey dramatics As a civil rights hero. But that in t Likely to set the ghettos alight with love for Hubert either. Something much More lasting in fact someone is needed. That is Why Humphrey wont to the Point of starting a Public courtship of son. Edward Ken Nedy though Kennedy now says to won t run. In the same Way probes have been made to see what might be done to Transfer some of Mccarthy s passionate support to Tho democrats in the fall. Mccarthy is holding out no Hope that any Concession Short of the nomination itself might tempt him to help. He s inscrutable an Oriental irishman a Humphrey advisor said of Mccarthy. We can t even get a hint from  even without a fourth my Carthy party in a Humphrey Nixon Wallace election the enthusiasts Aren t Likely to switch to Humphrey. The biggest boost in sight for Humphrey is the growing prob ability that president Johnson will soon halt the bombing of North Vietnam. The betting is that this will happen before the democratic convention not be cause Johnson wants to do his vice president a favor but be cause he badly wants the end of the War in sight before he leaves the White House. And he knows How Long it is bound to take to negotiate even a partial cease fire. But while better peace prospects would help Humphrey they still would t revive his old image of a Happy hero among the new voting groups. The trouble May Well be Bone deep. Like Johnson Humphrey is an extrovert a euphoric exaggerate or. But backs lapping just in t what rouses the people who mobbed Robert Kennedy and Are mad for Mccarthy. The More Humphrey turns up his cheery flame the More it leaves them cold. This in t a Good year for heartiness c 1968, new Day inc. William f. Buckley or. Rockefeller Campaign termed a failure the feeling is that Rockefeller has failed. He made a Brave attempt to discount the last Gal Lup poll As a Freak and the Rumor was swiftly spread that the Harris poll reaching contradictory conclusions i.e., putting Rockefeller just ahead of Nixon in All situations rather than vice versa As Gallup maintain would have the effect of neutralizing Gallup. But it was a frail Straw and even Rockefeller s incandescent smile began to disappear under the enveloping seas. The polls to do him any Good had to show a Rockefeller surge no ifs ands or buts no ambiguities. They plainly did t show anything of the sort. And when Nixon emerged in the Gallup poll As Victor Over either Mccar thy or Humphrey that did it. But of course Miami must take itself seriously and we must All proceed As though the strength of Rockefeller were sufficient when combined with that of Rea Gan and the favorite sons to deny Nixon his first ballot Vic tory. And then too there is the vice presidency in which an unusual amount of interest is being shown. There Are those who be Lieve that Nixon should ask Rea Gan to run with him on the grounds that philosophical firm Ness in times of Drift is most attractive. No no no the others say one must not be unbending in such times As these. Better to build a Bridge to the Large num Ber of uncommitted voters. Bridge Wise the talk is of such As Charles Percy or John Lind say or Why not Leroi Jones at this Point the relevance of the Reagan operation comes paradoxically into play. With the collapse of the Rockefeller Campaign it is probable that Nixon will have a first ballot Vic tory. But until Nixon can absolutely count on the necessary votes it is necessary to forage and bargain and make promises this is the year of glamorous no. 2 men this is the year Tho Vico presidential hopefuls have come into their own. The office has gradually been growing in importance but never before has there be a such pre convention inter est in it. Certainly this is the first time both parties have Boon consciously looking around for glamorous no. 2 men to Shore up the rather shopworn favor l a for the no. 1 spot. With few exceptions the proc is of choosing he nominee for Vico president has been Cut and dried after he no. 1 Post has Boon filled Tho new nominee gets together with a few dose advisors at the National convention and quickly decides who to wants on Tho Tot with him. And that s usually that. The situation is so different j year that even Tho loading Republican and democratic pro Clayton Fritchey fes Slonas have publicly gotten in on the act which is unprecedented for the party moguls ordinarily could t care less about the second Slot. Their habitual View is that the vice president Seldom if Ever affects the out come of an election and any How to does t have any patronage to dispense. The very fact that there is so much professional interest in the vice presidency this year is a kind of commentary on Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. Thoy Are admittedly not very exciting candidates and the Hullabaloo in both parties Over finding n magnetic vice presi Dent underlines the doubts about Tho pulling Power of the front runners for the no. 1 place. Mayor Richard Daley of Chica go Boss of the key Illinois democratic Machino and gov. James Rhodes of Ohio who Roy hold the balance of Power at Tho Republican convention Are politicians who normally play their cards very close to the Chest. Yet each has surprisingly intervened Over the vice presidency. Daley departed from the prac Tice of a lifetime in publicly pro posing to draft sen. Edward Ken Nedy for vice president. This was also True of the equally cautious gov. Rhodes in launching a Boom for mayor John Lindsay As the Republican no. 2 Choice. It is interesting to note that these conservative leaders plumped for two men with the same attributes. Lindsay and Kennedy Are Young and Good looking they come from Urban Industrial states they Are Liber als and they have been in direct opposition to the policies of Nixon and Humphrey especially on Vietnam. What a far cry this is from 1964, when Barry Goldwater pulled an obscure congressman William e. Miller out of a hat and Lyndon Johnson waited until the last minute to pick Humphrey if lbs s first thought had been for pulling Power he could have had Robert Kennedy or Adlai Stevenson. In 1960 John f. Kennedy s Choice of Johnson and Nixon s Choice of Cabot Lodge were mostly last minute convention inspirations. This was True too of 1952 when Stevenson and Eisen Hower gave the nod to sen. John Sparkman and Richard Nix on after Only cursory consideration. The selection of the right running mate is singularly important for Hubert Humphrey which is Why he frankly says he wants to have something to say about it. Sen. Edward Kennedy s withdrawal has complicated the vice president s problem for where else can he find what he was looking for in Ted that is someone who is Young Liberal dovish Urban minded already famous and above All a mag net for the Kennedy legions 1c 1os. New win inc. And commitments. Recently a Delegate from Oklahoma on hearing a Rumor that Nixon was considering Lindsay As a running mate defected from Nixon to Reagan in reaction to such ideological heresy. Defections from Nixon to Reagan have the effect of forcing Nixon s Atten Tion precisely in the direction which conservative minded Dele Gates desire him not to face. If would be an agonizing irony if the Reagan people most of them primarily committed not to Rea Gan however much they Admire him which is considerably but to a Bright future for the Republic should diminish the prospects of such a future by forcing the Likely Winner of the Republican convention in the direction of a Lindsay. As for the democrats there is serious worry at the failure of Humphrey to achieve anything like the Unity necessary for a great recovery for the party. We now have a president of the United states who cannot deliver a speech except in an army Camp. His vice president suffers from his natural propinquity to the president and from his Mani fest indisposition to offend the president. The notion that the minority will accept the verdict of the majority is axiomatic democratic doctrine and those who forced Johnson to abdicate and who Hoot Down Humphrey when he seeks to explain himself and who even now Are planning to Lay siege on the democratic convention Are not merely dislocating the democratic party but also the democratic system. But then confusing it All is another of those pest Ferous polls which shows that of All men in Public life most americans would vote for Lyndon Johnson for president perhaps that poll is mistaken As any poll can be. Still it serves to remind us How very noisy has been the Small group of bitter Enders who have brought on the greatest political crisis in Domestic history in memory. If one one tenth of the american citizens who voted for Barry Goldwater in 1964 had proceeded to behave towards John son As an equivalent number of Mccarthy  Are behaving to wards him the country would have been brought to its Knees. A  St. S n i Ite. I"-1 to s opinions expressed in ti\9 columns and cartoons on tins p-3 represent those of the author a tvs Are in no  to a considered of representing to � View of the Star and stripes in Etc of of us a oud suits