Eugene McCarthy flew directly to Grand Island from Indiana after he finished third in the May 7 primary behind Kennedy and Indiana Governor Roger Branigin, a favorite son candidate who was a stalking horse for Humphrey. McCarthy tried to spin away his third-place finish by claiming that because nobody won by a majority everybody lost: Kennedy won the Indiana primary with 42 percent of the vote, Branigin finished second with 31 percent, and McCarthy finished last with 27 percent. After his Indiana loss McCarthy laid down a marker saying, “I think the direct confrontation that was denied us in Indiana will be given us in Nebraska.”
After arriving in Grand Island, McCarthy made his first appearance on the steps of the Hall County Courthouse. At the time Grand Island was the third most populous city in Nebraska and agriculture was the backbone of its economy. The Minnesota Senator made a contrast with Kennedy by constantly emphasizing his farm background and his experience on the Agriculture Committee in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. McCarthy took a swipe at Kennedy when he said he was running against a “couple of agricultural experts from New York.” Even so, McCarthy’s agricultural platform was much like Kennedy’s. The Minnesota Senator supported higher parity prices, collective bargaining for farmers, a food reserve, and limits on beef imports, whereas Kennedy had voted against limits on beef imports.
While in Grand Island McCarthy wore his political pundit hat and predicted that he would pick up strength and do well in Nebraska. The presidential candidate raised expectations unnecessarily by claiming he would be satisfied with 51 percent of the vote in Nebraska. Presidential candidates typically try to downplay expectations so that they can turn a disappointing result into a moral victory. He again challenged Kennedy to a debate.
The McCarthy campaign subsequently traveled twenty-five miles south for an appearance at Hastings College in Hastings. McCarthy received a friendly reception from approximately one thousand students at the private college, which he said he needed considering his loss in Indiana. “The Nebraska primary is the first really important test,” McCarthy told the audience. During this campaign swing in central Nebraska, McCarthy claimed that he could win in Nebraska and that he expected to do well. He also said he was counting on a Republican cross over vote. On the issues, McCarthy focused on the Vietnam War and poverty. McCarthy made the case that the Vietnam War was un-American and violated America’s principles. He also emphasized that “no person should live in poverty in this country.”
McCarthy’s eastern Nebraska campaign tour on May 9 was characterized by small crowds, a sumptuous lunch, and increasing criticism of Kennedy. At events in Columbus and North Bend McCarthy continued to emphasize his agricultural experience and claimed he had been working with cattle since he was fourteen. He also continued to criticize Kennedy’s opposition to limits on beef imports.
McCarthy next addressed students at Midland College in Fremont. He expressed his increasing bitterness towards Kennedy’s election bid when he joked: “We thought we might have to sue for alienation of affections. But we found there was no alienation and few affections.” (Alienation of affections was a tort action brought by a married person against a person who had an affair with their spouse.)
These remarks drew laughter and a round of applause from the students. Kennedy had an affair with youthful voters but those voters stayed loyal. McCarthy was doing really well with young voters before Kennedy stepped in. This was a rare example of humor.
After his ambitious morning, McCarthy sat down for lunch at the A.A. Sibbernsen farm near Arlington. Sibbernsen claimed his farm was selected out of “sheer desperation” because nobody else was up to the challenge — everyone else who had been asked to host McCarthy had declined, perhaps doubtful they could rise to the occasion. Even so, the Sibbernsen farm was an average Eastern Nebraskan operation, consisting of one thousand two hundred acres of alfalfa, soybeans, and corn. However, this lunch was memorable enough to McCarthy that he included it in his account of the 1968 campaign. McCarthy recalled: “The younger Sibbernsen was an enthusiastic Nixon Republican, but he confided to me that he had almost succumbed to the temptation to re-register for the Democratic primary. Since he could not vote for me in the upcoming race, he said he was doing the next best thing by providing us with a typical Nebraska lunch — roast beef and strawberries.”
After thanking his hosts and inviting them to the White House for dinner, McCarthy departed for Omaha and delivered a speech at the Livestock Exchange Building in the southern part of that city. He told his small audience that Nebraska was important because it would be a bellwether for the five or six states in the region that held no primary. McCarthy finally received a good turnout when he was welcomed by one thousand supporters at the Crossroads shopping mall in what was then west Omaha.
McCarthy’s final stop on May 9 was perhaps the strangest episode of the Nebraska campaign. Kennedy, McCarthy, and Humphrey had all been invited and accepted invitations to address the Nebraska Democratic Party fundraising gala dinner in Omaha on the evening of May 10. This was a great opportunity for the candidates to present their case to Nebraska’s most influential and active Democrats.
The Minnesota Senator sat down with some national reporters enjoying Nebraska’s famous beef at the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha. They were shocked when McCarthy told them he was skipping the gala dinner tomorrow to leave Nebraska that evening and campaign in Oregon. One reporter recalls McCarthy telling them, in a dismissive way, that “the Nebraska primary wasn’t really important.” The reporters thought this was strange coming from a candidate who had repeatedly stated the contrary. McCarthy, it seems, was feeling insecure about his chances and trying to minimize an anticipated loss to Kennedy. Losing the Nebraska primary would sting less if McCarthy could convince himself, or anyone else, that the state really did not matter. After all, candidates confident of a win do not simply abandon an important state. McCarthy’s Nebraska tour had apparently shaken his confidence.
In this this bizarre exchange McCarthy exposed his dark side, if even for a moment. During the 1960s his friends noticed McCarthy becoming increasingly bitter. As Representative John Blatnik remembers: “I noticed a real change in him because his comments used to be a beautiful blend of cleverness and meaning with a little nip to them, but now they had a mean thrust. They were delivered with a cynical meanness that just wasn’t characteristic of Gene before then.” It appears that McCarthy had grown increasingly disenchanted and stultified with the tedium of his Senate duties, leaving him feeling impotent. Robert Kennedy often felt similarly frustrated, but because he had a national following, he received great attention from the press with every speech or fact-finding tour. This attention carried him through the doldrums. McCarthy had no such fandom to rally him on.
McCarthy also made little effort to hide his anger towards Kennedy once he entered the race: “Rarely had a presidential candidate displayed such blatant and public contempt for one his Senate colleagues.” A jealous, wounded McCarthy never forgave Kennedy for the attacks on his civil rights and Senate attendance records. In return Kennedy found McCarthy disagreeable.
The Minnesota Senator’s erratic behavior continued after the 1968 campaign. For example, he refused to endorse Hubert Humphrey until about a week before the 1968 general election, which cost him the support of some anti-war voters. After declining to seek re-election in 1970 McCarthy ran as a third-party presidential candidate in 1976. By siphoning off liberal supporters in Democratic leaning states, McCarthy might have cost Jimmy Carter the election. McCarthy subsequently shocked the political world when he endorsed Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Despite McCarthy’s claim that Nebraska was unimportant, he returned to the state for a final campaign push in which he literally worked himself to the point of exhaustion. Similarly, Kennedy launched an ambitious statewide, final push on May 10 to win the Nebraska vote. Nebraska voters had not seen the last of these two contenders, both of whom clearly demonstrated through deeds — if not words — that the state was forefront in their minds.