Indiana primary imbued with memory of RFK in '68

Robert F. Kennedy at the Indiana primary in Indianapolis on April 30, 1968, where he unexpectedly defeated two rivals. (File/Associated Press)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - There's a strong nostalgic undercurrent to the Indiana battle that culminates today with the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama evoking the memory of the last great Democratic primary in the Hoosier State - the triumph of Robert F. Kennedy 40 years ago.

Members of the famous political clan have been stumping for both candidates all over the state in the run-up to the critical vote. Kennedys supporting each candidate have followed in Bobby Kennedy's footsteps by visiting the West Side Democratic and Civic Club, which was one of his memorable stops on Dyngus Day, the Monday after Easter, marked in many Polish-American communities by political events.

In 1968, RFK sang a Polish song and addressed a huge crowd at the club that spilled out into a neighborhood that was once almost entirely Polish and is now racially mixed.

This year, his daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, visited the club on Dyngus Day with Bill Clinton and the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea. Less than two weeks later, Kennedy's widow, Ethel, and one of their sons, Max, stumped at the same club for Obama. Ethel Kennedy had accompanied her husband on the 1968 campaign swing through South Bend, which included a huge rally that closed off streets downtown.

Another son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has also been campaigning for Clinton, while his cousin Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President Kennedy, has stumped for Obama. Their uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, is one of Obama's most prominent supporters, and his wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, telephoned a gathering of Catholics for Obama last week in South Bend.

Robert Kennedy won the Indiana primary that May, his first after a late entry into the nominating contest. He defeated favorite-son Governor Roger Branigan, who was a stand-in for President Johnson until he withdrew from the race before the Indiana vote. Eugene McCarthy, like Kennedy, running on a platform opposing the Vietnam War, finished third. Kennedy was assassinated four weeks later in Los Angeles, on the night he won the California primary.

His Indiana campaign inspired a group of young Democratic activists in the largely Republican Hoosier state.

Julie Vuckovich, now on leave from the staff of Senator Evan Bayh to coordinate Hillary Clinton's campaign in the Second Congressional District, has a vivid memory of seeing RFK stop, shaking hands along Miami Street south of downtown South Bend. She said it inspired her to volunteer for his campaign.

"It was magical," recalled Owen "Butch" Morgan, who as a college student watched the Kennedy motorcade make its way to the West Side Democratic Club. "I couldn't get in. It was packed," said Morgan, now chairman of the St. Joseph County Democratic Party and a Clinton supporter.

Like the Kennedys this year, the political leadership of South Bend is split over the Obama-Clinton race. Joe Kernan, a former governor and mayor; Morgan, and Vuckovich are among Clinton's prominent supporters. Mayor Stephen Luecke, state Senator John Broden, and former congressman Tim Roemer are backing Obama.

Morgan appears to typify a good-natured rivalry that activists say exists in South Bend among partisans on both sides in the Democratic race.

On Thursday, Morgan drove from party headquarters downtown to the athletic offices at the University of Notre Dame to make a 5 p.m. deadline. On the way, he took a call on his cellphone from a city councilman seeking advice.

"He has a group from Chicago coming in this weekend to help out the Obama campaign," Morgan said. "I told him to see a guy who helps us out at the party a lot because he'll give him the best price on pizzas to feed his people."