I
THE M!CHIGAN DAILY
Tuesday, May 7, 1968
to
11cCarthy encourages the faithful in South Bendc
L.A. Rams' tackle Roosevelt Grier (L, with glasses) protedts his candidate
Bobby
and
Gene
in
Indiana:
Last-minute
blitz
As McCarthy (L) gave his major speech of the weekend, loyal supporters listened with full devotion
(Continued from Page 1)
every city in the state. Kenne-
)dy brought his campaign to a
fever pitch on Saturday in a
12-stop tour of Indianapolis.
In a swing through ghetto areas
in this city of 450,000, the boy-
ish candidate proved himself
sturdier than he appears. At
each stop he was mobbed by
crowds of youths and house-
wives, craning their necks forr
a look and extending their arms
for a touch.
That the crowds were so big
and so exuberant, however, is'
,as much a tribute to Kennedy's
staff as to the candidate him-
self. Hours before each street-
corner appearance, advance
men would sweep the area,
drumming up crowds and tag-
ging them with blue-and-white
"Kennedy" buttons. By the
time the candidate arrived, the
number of corraled curious
equalled the wildly enthusiastic.
Compare McCarthy's cam-,
paign. Where Kennedy has the
pros, McCarthy has the kids.
Over 3500 collegians walked
door-td-door for RFK in In-
dianapolis this weekend, but
McCarthy's legions, swelled to"
almost..,000, covered the whole
state.
With their y o u t h f u l n e s s
comes the fabled idealism that
has made them practically the
number one copy item for im-
pressed journalists. Watching a
young folk-singer introduce
McCarthy with "Blowin' inthe"
Wind" and "Universal Soldier"
in South Bend, columnist Mary
Mcgfory - recognized as. one
of the nation's keenest political
analysts - had misty tears in
her eyes.
Gov. Branigin's candidacy is
being promoted by some local
supporters as a stepping stone
to the vice-presidencyshould
Humphrey get the presidential
nomination in August. Most
commentators, confident that
this prize has already been of-
fered to retiring Gov. John
Connally of Texas, regard this
as exceedingly dubious, and
prefer to view Branigin's cam-
paign as an attempt by admin-
istration forces to embarrass
Kennedy particularly, and,
backhandedly, McCarthy as
well.
So 4ranigin has aimed his
campaign at a denunciation of
the "outsiders" who, he says,
are trying to read too much
into Indiana's importance as a
swing state.
While this interpretation
galls the confident Kennedy
forces, it suits McCarthy fine.
Repeatedly, he has *said that
Indiana "is just another state,"
and has instead described pri-
maries in Oregon (May 28) and
California (June 4) as "cru-
cial." In those states, Kennedy
and McCarthy are the only
candidates on the ballot.
As McCarthy and Branigin
play Indiana down, Kennedy
hani, i t - tin (anitaliinao n a
court), Kennedy expects hand-
some results in this dreary Mid-
western state.
But McCarthy's collegiate
supporters remain undeterred.
Their enthusiasm equals their
numbers
"No, I'd never work for Kell-
nedy," a co-ed from Barnard
said, "even if McCarthy lost.
But, of course, he's not going
to lose."
This view is generally repre-
sentative of .the whole McCar-
thy operation. Expressing bit-
ter disapproval of ,RFK, whom
they see as an opportunistic
late-comer, McCarthy's sup-
porters are determined to prove
the pollsters wrong, as they did
in Wisconsin and New Hamp-
shire. Even the few profession-
al politicians who man positions
at the top of the McCarthy
s.tructure show child-like de-
light in their candidate's pro-
pensity to buck the odds.
For every ounce of MeCar-
thyite confidence, there is an
equal amount of surety in the
Kennedy camp. Pierre Saliltger,
serving as general supervisor of
the Indiana campaign, struts
around the Indianapolis head-
quarters amid a staff certain
of victory. The press attaches
assigned to supervise the road
operations assure the newsmen
that their candidate isn't wor-
ried in the least bit about the
McCarthy challenge.
What is bothering Kennedy,
though, is the treatment he has
been getting in the Indianapolis
newspapers, the Star and the
News - both owned and pub-
lished by Eugene Pulliam. In a
front page editorial Sunday, the
Star said that "A rousing vic-
tory for Roger D. Branigin in
the Democratic presidential
preference primary will settle
for now and for the future
whether the voters of this or
any other state can be bought
by a rich man."
Clearly aiming its attack at
Kennedy, and McCarthy on'y
to a lesser extent, the Star his
assumed responsibility for car-
' rying forward the Branilin
philosophy that is plastered on
billboards acifoss the , state:
"Vote Indiana - Vote Br ni-
gin." Hoping to undercut the
Kennedy impact on the state's
voters, Branigin's home-style
campaign has been predicated
on a fierce (although logically
exceptionable) state patriotism.
Yesterday, Salinger attacke'd
the*Star for fighting Branigin's
battles in what the Kennedy
forces see as a smear cam-
Daign. To this charge, Pulliam
responded simply. "Bobby Ken-
nedy is like all spoiled chil-
dren. When he doesn't get what
he wants, he bellyaches."
But, despite the Branigin
threat, Bobby Kennedy will
probably get what he wants in
Indiana. Most impartial guesses
place it somewhere between 40
and 50 per cent for Kennedy
and anut 25 ner cent for Mc-
~~4
Photographed by
ANDY* SACKS
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