2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: In 1980, did Ted Kennedy endorse Jimmy Carter? [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)he may well have heard he was thinking about bowing out. I mean, come on--he was the Attorney General in his brother's administration and even stayed on for almost a year under LBJ-- it's not like he had no friends at the FBI (who listened in on everything). People don't always tell us everything they know--they like to keep those sources and methods close to the vest.
At the end of the day, he had to know he couldn't win, because Gene McCarthy hated RFK as much as RFK disliked him. Neither would give way to the other and if it wasn't LBJ going for it again, it would be HHH. The vote was bound to be trifurcated and it was likely that the "establishment" candidate would get the lion's share.
His COS was saying he might hang on after December, yet his Secretary knows he's talking to John Connally and others back in the summertime of 67. This was plainly NOT a state secret, even though the press either did not get wind of it, did not believe it if they heard it as a rumor, or couldn't get anyone to confirm it even on background.