Who After Hubert?

As he moves up to the vice-presidency, Hubert Humphrey leaves in his wake two important jobs to be filled-and there are plenty of eager contenders for both.

It will be up to Minnesota's Democratic Governor Karl Rolvaag to appoint someone to complete the remaining two years of Humphrey's Senate term. Rolvaag could resign and take the job himself, but he is well aware that voters often show their displeasure later at such self-promotion. The most likely prospect seems to be Walter ("Fritz") Mondale, 36, the state's attorney general and the brightest of a stable of bright young men awaiting a shot at bigger things in the party. He has behind-the-scene support from Humphrey.

Yet Mondale has a potentially powerful rival in the state's three-term former Governor, Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman. Freeman has not indicated that he wants the job, but he has let it be known that he wants to leave Agriculture. Last week Freeman was vacationing in Minnesota -his first week off in three years-and some of his Washington aides thought it might be significant. Two other possibilities: John Blatnik, 53, an 18-year Congressman from Minnesota's iron-range area, who is backed by Senator Eugene McCarthy and officials of the United Steelworkers Union; Mrs. Eugenie Anderson, the nation's first woman ambassador (Denmark) and now Minister to Bulgaria.

In Washington, Senate Democrats must decide who their new majority whip will be. The current favorite is Rhode Island's John Pastore, one of the Senate's sharpest debaters and the 1964 Democratic Convention keynoter. Other possibilities: Louisiana's Russell Long, Maine's Edmund Muskie, Michigan's Philip Hart, Hawaii's Daniel Inouye, Connecticut's Thomas Dodd, Florida's George Smathers.

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