Humphrey's Decline?

That loud hissing noise from the Midwest, thought many a Democratic professional in Washington this week, was the wind going out of Senator Hubert Humphrey's presidential balloon. The sharp-eared pros of Front Runner Jack Kennedy even thought they detected a bang, breathlessly watched for the challenger to come parachuting down out of the nomination race.

The most tangible evidence of hiss or bang came in Humphrey's home state, where the Minneapolis Tribune poll indicated a six-month drop in his presidential popularity, from 49% to 37% among his own Democratic-Farmer-Labor party members, from 35% to 17% among independents. Kennedy rose from 20% to 22% with D.F.L.ers, slipped from 27% to 26% among Minnesota independents. Perhaps the most cruel blow to Humphrey: in a wide-open straw ballot, he slightly trailed Dick Nixon (21% to 22%), followed by Stevenson and Kennedy (with 11% each).

But Humphrey, no quitter, flew on after whatever he might gain or hope to salvage, at week's end headed for California to pay a hat-in-hand call on Governor Edmund ("Pat") Brown, a delegation-controlling favorite son whose presidential balloon has been rising while Humphrey's drifts.

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