 As the Wisconsin primary <unk> in early April , Nixon 's only obstacle seemed to be preventing his supporters from voting in the Democratic primary for Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota as a protest against President Johnson . However , Johnson withdrew from the race before the primary , meanwhile Governor Reagan 's name was on the ballot in Wisconsin , but he did not campaign in the state and was still not a declared candidate . Nixon won the primary with 80 % followed by Reagan with 11 % and <unk> with 6 % . With Johnson removed from the race , Nixon fell behind Democratic candidates Eugene McCarthy , Hubert Humphrey and Robert Kennedy in head @-@ to @-@ head match @-@ ups . At the end of April , Nixon called for a moratorium on criticism of the Johnson policy in Vietnam as negotiations were underway : " The one man who can do anything about peace is Lyndon Johnson , and I 'm not going to do anything to undercut him . " However , the Democratic candidates for president remained fair game for criticism . He argued that " A divided Democratic Party cannot unite a divided country ; a united Republican Party can . " He also began to discuss economics more frequently , announcing plans to cut spending while criticizing the Democrats ' policy of raising taxes . During a question and answer session with the American Society of Newspaper Editors , Nixon spoke out of turn , receiving numerous interruptions of applause . The largest came when he addressed the issue of crime , proclaiming that " there cannot be order in a free society without progress , and there cannot be progress without order . " 
