Apr. 28, 1964 - Henry Cabot Lodge’s undeclared candidacy for the Republican Presidential nomination picked up fresh vigor in two primaries today.
An expected victory in his home state of Massachusetts turned into a runaway. He also made a respectable showing in Pennsylvania, where next to nothing had been expected of him.
Governor William Scranton of Pennsylvania, on the other hand, did not display the smashing popularity his volunteer managers had thought he would have in his home state.
In Massachusetts, where no Republican came close to him, Lodge even made inroads in the Democratic column.
President Johnson won by a wide margin and was followed by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, but Lodge demonstrated that there were many Democrats in his home state who might cross over to him if he ran for the Presidency.
The New Hampshire and Massachusetts primaries give the Ambassador to South Vietnam 48 convention votes. He is said to be leading in Oregon, which could make the total 66 on May 15. This leaves him still far behind Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona.
Goldwater was a solid second behind Lodge in Massachusetts. In California, where he is campaigning today, he issued a statement saying he would be happy to pick up even one delegate in the home state of his undeclared rival in Saigon.
The Goldwater forces count 202 favorable delegates already chosen and foresee a minimum of 300 more before the July convention.
If he can add California’s 86 to those, the Senator will be in excellent first-ballot shape.
If Governor Rockefeller won California and held the bulk of New York’s 92 delegates, a Lodge-Rockefeller coalition might be in the making.
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