Candidate Talking

Stumping through the towns and cities of Wisconsin last week were two slugging Democratic presidential aspirants: Massachusetts' Jack Kennedy and Minnesota's Hubert Humphrey. With only six weeks to go before the Wisconsin "sudden-death" primary, each left off attacking the other, got down to politicking at luncheons, receptions, factories and even barbershops. The crowds were big and interested, but just how grimly interested one candidate was in the crowds (and their votes) was revealed in a conversation between Kennedy and TIME Correspondent Robert Ajemian. Kennedy's views:

Wisconsin's Reception: "I'm a fellow who's run five times for office. I know a friendly crowd when I see one, and I know a hostile crowd. These people are friendly. I really didn't expect to get this good a reception. I don't care one bit why they come out, as long as they do."

Kennedy v. Humphrey: "I just can't bleed all over the floor like Hubert does. If you check our records, you'll find that in 95% of the cases, our voting has been the same. But we're temperamentally different. He likes to lambaste; I don't think it pays off. Does that make him more liberal than me? Hell, my voting record isn't perfect, but he's got soft spots too."

Gaining Popularity: "I'm not going to go after Nixon. People get fed up with that kind of stuff. My problem here is to get myself known, to get these people to take me seriously. If this were in New Hampshire, or Maryland, where people know me, I'd clobber Hubert. I'd bury him." Humphrey's Financial Strength: "I know people in New York have contributed heavily. If Hubert Humphrey can't raise money under these circumstances, with all the people who want to stop me in Wisconsin, like Symington and Johnson and the rest, he's just not competent." The Results: "If I win this thing by only a few thousand votes, I'm taking it as a victory. The popular vote tells the story. If a Bostonian can come out here and outdraw a Midwesterner in his own backyard, then to me that's a victory. I don't care what the delegate count says." Obviously, Jack Kennedy was setting the rules to fit his game--i.e., was carefully bracing himself in case Hubert Humphrey should win more Wisconsin delegates than Kennedy. (Of Wisconsin's 31 delegate votes, 25 come from the congressional districts, five go to the winner of the popular vote, one is split between the national committeeman and committee-woman.) Just as obviously, Humphrey (TIME Cover, Feb. 1), a man of many words yet barely heard from in the campaign, is no man to concede Kennedy a happy ending in advance.

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