effort to give the Democratic Party one of the strongest tickets it
could possibly have.

Yes, my friends, with Senator Lyndon Johnson on the ticket, we
have a Democratic team of depth and quality that I know has never
been equalled since I have been in politics. This man has not been
picked for this spot because he was a television star or a. one-issue
specialist. No indeed, in Lyndon Johnson we have chosen an un-
equalled party leader, a man thoroughly familiar with all of the
great issues of the day, a man with more legislative know-how and
experience than any other individual in the nation. This is the year
when it can be easily proven that the Vice-Presidential candidate on
the Democratic ticket is head and shoulders above the Presidential
candidate on the Republican ticket!

And believe me, ladies and gentlemen, we welcome his strength on
this ticket. The Eisenhower name is still potent in this country, and—
mark my words—as this campaign goes into its closing days, Dick Nixon
is going to try to make people think that they are voting for Ike
again, not for Dick.

But you and I know, that Dick isn't Ike, and it is up to us to keep
that fact before the people of this State. And we have Lyndon Johnson
here tonight to help us do it.

And let me remind you how important it is that this State of Mary-
land go Democratic in November. True, we only have nine electoral
votes in the Electoral College; but it takes 269 votes to win. Even if
Jack Kennedy carried the nine states with the largest number of
electoral votes, these would only add up to 237. These nine states
include California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey,
New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. If we concede that Jack
might lose one or two of these, then you can see that Maryland's nine
votes could well become the crucial margin of victory. This therefore
is the undeniable logic behind my message for you tonight. We must
carry this State for our Party in November, and we must work un-
ceasingly between now and then to be sure that this comes about.

Senator Lyndon Johnson has come to Cumberland, Hagerstown,
and down here to Salisbury and the Eastern Shore to help us do just
exactly that, and nobody knows how to do it better than he.

Ladies and gentlemen, as the running mate of John F. Kennedy,
our candidate for President, I give you the next Vice-President of
the United States, one of the great all-time leaders of the Democratic
Party, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas!

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