March 28, 1968 - Nixon, Johnson Favored In Wisconsin Primary

A polling of Democratic party leaders shows that many are reluctant to back President Johnson's re-election in November. Although 14 of the 24 states with Democratic governors are listed as Johnson supporters, party leaders in the 26 states with Republican governors are beginning to defect to Senators Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy as the campaign continues. Those 26 states will provide 1,382 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August, seventy more than necessary to win the nomination. An AP tally of the 14 Democratic governors alleged to support the President, six are noncommittal, one is threatening to abandon Johnson over the war in Vietnam, one has moved to support Kennedy and two are supporting former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace.

Senator Robert Kennedy of New York, a late entrant into the race, announced yesterday that he will enter the Indiana primary of May 7, setting up a potential three-man contest between himself, McCarthy, and a stand-in for President Johnson, Indiana Governor Roger Branigan. Kennedy's speech at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah was sidetracked by an anonymous bomb threat that Kennedy chose to ignore. He received the coolest reception since his March 16 entrance into the contest, polite but not the standing ovations he has been receiving elsewhere. Kennedy proposed a plan for discharging young men from their military obligations in trade for other public service.

Richard M. Nixon, the Republican front-runner and presumptive nominee, declared that he did not personally see how Johnson could fail to win Tuesday's Wisconsin primary "with all that political power, skill, and money," but he hastened to add that several of his aides disagreed with him. Nixon's comments came as he flew to Wausau after leaving a meeting in Madison with Governor Warren P. Knowles. Nixon faces limited opposition on the ballot from former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen and California Governor Ronald W. Reagan.

Wallace, running as a third-party candidate, went on the attack in three Southern states against all of the other candidates but particularly set his sights on Kennedy. Declaring the need to win the war in Vietnam, Wallace criticized Kennedy with the observation that he "has recommended and supported every policy followed in this country today and yet he says he wants to try something new." He also went after Kennedy on civil rights, declaring Kennedy "advocated more civil rights legislation to get the agitators out of the streets, but the more legislation they pass, the more they've got in the streets."


SOURCES

"Some Governors Reluctant to Back LBJ," by Jack Bell, Associated Press, Montana Standard, March 28, 1968, 1.

"Nixon View of '68 Race," by Chalmers Roberts, Washington Post, as reported by Des Moines Register, March 28, 1968, 7.

"Bobby To Make Bid in Indiana," Ibid.

"RFK To Battle McCarthy, Johnson Stand-In In Indiana," Associated Press, Columbia Missourian, March 28 1968, 29.

"RFK Turns Campaign Attack from Johnson Toward Nixon, Associated Press, Jefferson City Daily Capital News, March 28, 1968, 3.