U.S. ELECTIONS Storm Likely In Chicago

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31768, 27 August 1968, Page 17

U.S. ELECTIONS Storm Likely In Chicago

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) CHICAGO, August 26. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, displaying his usual confidence prepared today to ride the storms of party dissention to win Presidential nomination at the Democratic Party convention.

Like every one of the 2662 delegates who will crowd into Chicago’s International Amphitheatre for the opening session tonight, Mr Humphrey is ready to face what is expected will be one of the stormiest conventions in Democratic Party history.

Clearly divided over the apparently insoluble Vietnam conflict, harassed by feuding factions from northern and southern States, and beset by unprecedented security precautions which have turned the city of Chicago into an armed camp, the Democrats are struggling to avoid an irreparable split which would ensure their defeat by the Republicans in the Presidential election in November. KENNEDY SPECULATION Although Mr Humphrey, according to the latest estimates has a total of 1460 delegate votes committed to him—l4B more than required for nomination in Wednesday’s first ballot—there is increasing speculation about the possi. bility of an eleventh-hour drive to draft Senator Edward Kennedy, the 36-year-old surviving Kennedy brother. The Chicago Mayor (Mr Richard Daley) and his 118strong Illinois delegation has heightened this speculation by failing to announce their expected endorsement of Mr Humphrey after a three-hour caucus yesterday. The delegation, most of whom were reported to be strong Humphrey supporters, postponed a roll-call vote on their Presidential choice until Wednesday, just a few hours before the convention

balloting begins. Mr Daley, a close friend of the Kennedy family, is regarded as a major key in the fight for delegate support Two other major uncommitted delegations New York, with 190 delegate votes at stake, and California, with 174—include many supporters of the late Senator Robert Kennedy. California was due to hold its caucus today under the chairmanship of Mr Jesse Unruh, Speaker of the California Assembly. The entire delegation was pledged to Senator Robert Kennedy before his death. Persistent rumours that

President Johnson might himself accept a draft despite his decision to withdraw from the race last March, were again firmly denied. The Texas Governor (Mr John Connally), a close friend and political ally of the President, told a news conference he did not think his 104-member delegation would nominate President Johnson in any circumstances. “We are not here to promote a draft for the Presi-

dent or anything of that kind,” he said. “We respect his wishes to retire and bis statement of withdrawal,” he added. Asked if he completely ruled out the President being nominated during the convention, Governor Connally replied: “I don’t rule out any possibility at a political convention.” Meanwhile, the two leading peace candidates, Senators Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern, continued to forecast that Mr Humphrey would fail to obtain the 1312 votes needed for a first ballot nomination. But Senator McCarthy told a nation-wide television audience, in what was regarded as an admission that his chances for nomination had almost vanished, that he would serve as Vice-President under Mr Humphrey if such a step were “necessary to save the Republic.” He ruled out the possibility of an anti-war coalition against the regular party if Mr Humphrey should win the nomination. "I don’t see much in the way of a coalition being either desirable or effective,” he said. The party’s fourth candidate, the segregationist, Governor Lester Maddox, of Georgia, has said he will not support any of the other candidates in the Democratic race.

SECURITY CHECK Hundreds of secret service and F. 8.1. agents swarmed over the convention hail this morning in a final, floor-to-ceiling check as protests continued to rise over the weight and extent of the security blanket that has engulfed the city. An estimated 40,000 heavilyarmed Federal and National Guard troops and policemen have been mobilised to quell any disorders by demonstrators against the Vietnam war. A nationally-known television news correspondent, attacking the immensity of the security operation, commented: “How long can democracy live behind the barricades? In a very real sense the barbed wire encircling Convention Hall is a most chilling sight Part of the American spirit is already empaled there. A police enclave has to be erected to permit a democratic exercise.”