Despite strong showings in several primaries — indeed , he won more votes than any other Democratic candidate — McCarthy garnered only 23 percent of the delegates at the 1968 Democratic National Convention , largely due to the control of state-party organizations over the delegate-selection process . After the Kennedy assassination , many delegates for Kennedy chose to support George McGovern rather than McCarthy . Moreover , although the eventual nominee , Vice President Hubert Humphrey , was not clearly an anti-war candidate , some anti-war Democrats hoped that Humphrey as President might succeed where Johnson had failed — in extricating the United States from Vietnam . McCarthy eventually gave a lukewarm endorsement of Humphrey . Although McCarthy did not win the Democratic nomination , the anti-war " New Party " , which ran several candidates for President that year , listed him as their nominee on the ballot in Arizona , where he received 2,751 votes . He also received 20,721 votes as a write-in candidate in California
1968 Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
Eugene McCarthy