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Background: IT WAS A NEAR MISS IN PERSON BUT A DIRECT CONFRONTATION POLITICALLY BETWEEN VICE PRESIDENT HUBERT H. HUMPHREY AND SEN. ROBERT F. KENNEDY THE WEEKEND BEFORE NEBRASKA'S PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY.

FROM THE MOMENT THE TWO PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS ARRIVED SEPARATELY IN OMAHA FRIDAY FOR A US DOLLAR 35-A-PLATE DEMOCRATIC DINNER. THEY WERE KEPT APART BY PROTOCOL-MINDED HOSTS. BUT THEY COMPETED IN SUCH POLITICAL GESTURES AS SHAKING HANDS WITH POLITICIANS AND MISSING THE WIVES, JOKING ABOUT EACH OTHER AND MAKING PROMISES TO NEBRASKANS AND THE NATION.

THE PROMISES WERE MADE FROM THE SAME PLATFORM AT THE JEFFERSON - JACKSON FUND RAISING DINNER. KENNEDY VACATED THE PODIUM AND THE SEAT OF HONOR ONE HOUR AND 15 MINUTES BEFORE HUMPHREY ARRIVED ALTHOUGH THE TWO HAD MISSED EACH OTHER BY ONLY FIVE MINUTES AT AN EARLIER RECEPTION.

THE THIRD MAN IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL RACE, SEN. ??? J. MCCARTHY OF MINNESOTA, SENT A TELEGRAM SAYING HE WAS CAMPAIGNING IN OREGON AND COULD NOT CANCEL THE SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS THERE TO ATTEND THE OMAHA RALLY.