Kennedy still faced two rival candidates for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination: the leading challenger United States Senator Eugene McCarthy and Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

[5] In search of a way out of the dilemma, Kennedy asked speechwriter Milton Gwirtzman to write a memo comparing two offices: 1) governor of Massachusetts and 2) U.S. senator from New York, and "which would be a better place from which to make a run for the presidency in future years?

"[14] Disagreement amongst Kennedy's friends, political advisors, and family members further complicated his decision to launch a primary challenge against the incumbent Johnson.

[16] On March 12, when Johnson won an astonishingly narrow victory in the New Hampshire primary against McCarthy, who polled 42 percent of the vote, Kennedy knew it would be unlikely that the Minnesota senator would agree to withdraw.

He withdrew from the election during a televised speech, where he also announced a partial halt to the bombing of Vietnam and proposed peace negotiations with the North Vietnamese.

Despite late entry into the primary race, Humphrey had the support of the president and many Democratic insiders, which gave him a better chance at gaining convention delegates in the non-primary states.

[41] Kennedy's candidacy faced opposition from Southern Democrats, leaders of organized labor, and the business community, where he was viewed as a fiscal liability.

[45] A Gallup poll conducted in the fall of 1965 showed 72% of respondents believed RFK wanted to become the president, and 40% of independents and 56% of Democrats stated their support for a possible bid.

[66] Despite fears of riots and concerns for his safety, Kennedy went ahead with plans to attend a rally at 7th and Broadway—an African American neighborhood near the north side of Indianapolis.

[68] The following day, Kennedy addressed the City Club of Cleveland at the Sheraton-Cleveland Hotel in Ohio; delivering the famous "On the Mindless Menace of Violence" speech.

[71] Kennedy's campaign advisor, John Bartlow Martin, urged the candidate to speak out against violence and rioting, emphasize his "law enforcement experience" as former U.S. attorney general, and promote the idea that the federal government and the private sector should work together to solve domestic issues.

"[78] Campaigning vigorously in Nebraska, Kennedy hoped for a big win to give him momentum going into the California primary, in which McCarthy held a strong presence.

[79] Kennedy's advisors had been worried about his chances in Nebraska, given RFK's lack of experience with the issues of ranching and agriculture—subjects of high importance to Nebraskans—and the short amount of time to campaign in the state after the Indiana primary.

His campaign organization, run by U.S. Congresswoman Edith Green, was not strong and his platform emphasizing poverty, hunger, and minority issues did not resonate with Oregon voters.

"At the present moment, a person who is insane, a man with a long criminal record of killing a dozen people, can go in and buy a rifle," Kennedy remarked.

[99] The campaign entourage and traveling press were all "scared to death," recalled Bill Eppridge, a Life magazine photographer in the car just ahead of the Kennedys.

"[107] After addressing his supporters during the early morning hours of June 5, Kennedy left the Ambassador Hotel's ballroom through a service area to greet kitchen workers.

[109][110] Kennedy's body was returned to New York City, where he lay in repose at St. Patrick's Cathedral for several days before the Requiem Mass was held there on June 8.

Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, eulogized him with the words: "My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.

"[54] Support amongst black voters was one of the key factors in Kennedy's victory in Indiana, where he gave a notable speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Indianapolis days before the primary took place.

[55] Schmitt observed that "It was the allure of Kennedy as a bare knuckles advocate for their interests that led some of these same white voters to support the insurgent candidacy of George Wallace in the fall of 1968.

[55] Samuel Lubell, though noting Kennedy's support among blacks, stated that he "had also carried the racially sensitive low-income white workers who come in from rural areas to settle in east Omaha.

[138] Kennedy was at his apartment in the United Nations Plaza the night President Johnson announced his withdrawal from the primary, though unlike his supporters he was not optimistic about the news.

[144] The day before Kennedy announced his entry into the primary, he told reporters Hayne Johnson and Jack Newfield: "I can't be a hypocrite anymore.

[145] According to Dominic Sandbrook, Kennedy's entry into the primary caused a shift in McCarthy's campaign—McCarthy was forced to further develop his own platform, instead of merely being antagonistic to the Johnson administration's policies.

"[147] Mills wrote that Kennedy's focus on providing assistance for the poor and powerless during the Indiana primary was meant to highlight an issue that the McCarthy campaign had neglected.

[151] Two days after Kennedy announced his candidacy, Vice President Hubert Humphrey said that RFK had supported the JFK administration's policies on the Vietnam conflict.

"[155] The morning after his Oregon loss, Kennedy hosted a Los Angeles airport press conference in which he critiqued Humphrey for what he called an inability "to present his views to the voters of a single state.

Shortly before entering the race, on February 8, 1968, Kennedy met with Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley about the chances of usurping the nomination from the incumbent President Lyndon Johnson.

[163] Nixon, who during his own campaign for the presidency spoke about federal power to the states and economic empowerment for blacks in a late May speech, said: "Bobby and I have been sounding pretty much alike.