McCarthy Victor In Oregon Race

Senator Eugene J. McCarthy appeared early this morning to have won an upset victory in the Oregon Democratic Primary, energizing his own troubled campaign and dealing a major blow to the Presidential hopes of Senator Robert F. Kennedy '48, his opponent.

With some 55 per cent of the votes counted, McCarthy had received 58,352 or 43 per cent, to 50,784 or 37 per cent in the Kennedy column. The final tally was expected to be closer.

President Johnson, who bowed out of the race too late to have his name removed from the Oregon ballot, had 17,759 votes or 13 per cent, and Vice-President Humphrey, who entered too late to have his name added, had 9,722 write-ins or 7 per cent.

Kennedy Concedes

Arriving in Oregon after a day of California campaigning, Kennedy acknowledged defeat, "It would appear that McCarthy has won the primary," Kennedy said, "I congratulate him."

McCarthy's victory confirmed the speculation of those who recalled that the Minnesota Senator had run several percentage points ahead of election-eve polls in Indiana and Nebraska, apparently taking a substantial majority of the undecided vote both times. In this sense, the Oregon outcome was consistent with the first two Kennedy-McCarthy encounters.

For Kennedy, defeat in Oregon makes next Tuesday's California primary doubly critical, and some observers have suggested he will now find it more difficult there to achieve the resounding victory he seeks.

For McCarthy, apart from a significant psychological boost, the win should ease fund-raising problems in the last week of the California campaign, and possibly help bring back some members of the student corps currently studying for exams.

GOP voters failed to manifest any significant opposition to Richard Nixon's Presidential steamroller. With about 57 per cent of the votes recorded, Nixon had 71 per cent to 22 per cent for Governor Ronald Reagan, 7 per cent for Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and 1 per cent for former Governor Harold Stassen.

In the other major contest, Oregon Democrats passed over former Congressman Robert Duncan to hand Senator Wayne Morse nomination to a sixth term.