rap his whole trip

 Hube, baby.  I guess you heard...----------------- [Hunter Thompson excerpt - Campaign '72]---------------  Another nightmare we might as well start coming to grips with is the probability that Hubert Humphrey will be a candidate for the Democratic nomination this year . . . And . . . there is probably some interesting talk going down around Humphrey headquarters these days:

"Say . . . ah.  Hube, baby.  I guess you heard what your old buddy Gene did to Muskie the other day, right?  Yeah, and we always thought they were friends, didn't we?  (Long pause, no reply from the candidate. . .)

"So . . . ah . . . Hube?  You still with me?  Jesus Christ!  Where's that sunlamp?  We gotta get more of a tan on you, baby.  You look grey.  (Long pause, no reply from the candidate . . .)  Well, Hube, we might just as well face this thing.  We're comin' up fast on what just might be a real nasty little problem for you . . . let's not try to kid ourselves.  Hube, he's a really mean sonofabitch.  (Long pause, etc. . . .)  You're gonna have to be ready, Hube.  You announce next Thursday at noon, right?  So we might as well figure that crazy fucker is gonna come down on you like a million pound shithammer that same afternoon.  He'll probably stage a big scene at the Press Club -- and we know who's gonna be there, don't we Hube?  Yeah, every bastard in the business.  Are you ready for that, Hube Baby?  Can you handle it?  (Long pause, no reply, etc. - heavy breathing.)  OK, Hube, tell me this:  What does the bastard know?  What's the worst he can spring on you?"

[space in the text]

What indeed?  Was McCarthy just honing up his act on Ed Muskie?  Or does he really believe that Muskie -- rather than Humphrey -- was the main agent of Johnsonian policy at the '68 Convention?

Is that possible?  Was Muskie the man behind all that treachery and bloodletting?  Is McCarthy prepared to blow the whole lid off?  Whose head does he really want?  And how far will he go to get it?  Does the man have a price?

This may be the only interesting question of the campaign until the big whistle blows in New Hampshire on March 7th.  With McCarthy skulking around, Muskie can't afford anything but a thumping win over McGovern in that primary.  But Mad Sam is up there too, and even Muskie's local handlers concede Yorty at least 15 percent of the Democratic vote, due to his freakish alliance with the neo-Nazi publisher of New Hampshire's only big newspaper, the Manchester Union-Leader.

The Mayor of Los Angeles has never bothered to explain the twisted reasoning behind his candidacy in New Hampshire, but every vote he gets there will come off Muskie's pile, not McGovern's.  Which means that McGovern, already sitting on 20 to 25 percent of the vote, could rap Muskie's whole trip by picking up another 10 to 15 percent in a last-minute rush.

Muskie took a headcount in September and found himself leading with about 40 percent -- but he will need at least 50 percent to look good for the fence-sitters in Florida, who will go to the polls a week later . . . and in Florida, Muskie will have to beat back the show-biz charisma of John Lindsay on the Left, more or less, and also deal with Scoop Jackson, Hubert Humphrey, and George Wallace on the Right.

()(/

Jesus!  This gibberish could run on forever and even now I can see myself falling into the old trap that plagues every writer who gets sucked into this rotten business.  You find yourself getting fascinated by the drifts and strange quirks of the game.  Even now, before I've even finished this article, I can already feel the compulsion to start handicapping politics and primaries like it was all just another fat Sunday of pro football....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can take me to paradise,
And then again you can be cold as ice
I'm over my head,
But it sure feels nice.

You can take me anytime you like,
I'll be around if you think you might
love me baby,
And hold me tight.

Your mood is like a circus wheel,
You're changing all the time,
Sometimes I can't help but feel,
That I'm wasting --
all of my time.

Think I'm looking on the dark side,
But every day you hurt my pride,
I'm over my head,
But it sure feels nice,
I'm over my head,
But it sure feels nice.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

{book excerpt:  Fear And Loathing:  On The Campaign Trail '72 -- Hunter S. Thompson.  Copyright 1973 -- Straight Arrow Publishing Co. - San Fran.}
{song:  "Over My Head" -- written by Christine McVie -- Fleetwood Mac 1975 album, Reprise.}

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