The Nome Nugget

Lyndon Johnson Throws His Hat in Presidential Ring
WASHINGTON (P) -- Sen. Lyndon Johnson of Texas announced his candidacy Tuesday for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Texas senator -- long recognized as a bidder for the nomination -- finally made it formal and official at a news conference.
His announcement came just six days before the opening of the Democratic convention in Los Angeles, and signals a stretch drive by his supporters to stem the momentum gained by Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts.
To applause from an obviously pro-Johnson crowd of spectators, the Texan told a packed news conference in the auditorium of the Senate Office Building:
"I am of this moment a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States."
Johnson said he had withheld an announcement up to today because "somebody had to tend the store," referring to his duties as Democratic chief in the Senate.
Johnson said he was not going to push aside other candidates for the nomination, that he is only going to ask the American people to look hard and long for the right man.
Johnson prefaced his formal announcement with a comment that since the drive for delegate commitments began, the job of the presidency to which the candidates aspire has changed tremendously.
He recalled the series of events through which Soviet Premier Khrushchev has chilled the cold war still further, and told his audience of newsmen that in the world of the immediate future there will be "no mercy for inexperience, no gallantry toward youth."
With the world changed, Johnson said, "the next President is not going to be a talking or a traveling President -- he is going to be a working president."
How does he describe himself?
"You don't go in for labels. I've been called almost everything. I've been progressive and liberal without being radical, conservative without being reactionary."