NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 1972 (UPI) - Sen. George McGovern was jostled by enthusiastic supporters today as he and his wife Eleanor looked for votes on New York's Fifth Avenue before flying to Pennsylvania and California on the last day of his uphill race for the Billed as a "walk," the event was largely a shoving match between spectators, security men, reporters and cameramen. The protective wedge was so thick around the candidate that the hundreds of passersby were at times unable to reach McGovern.
At one point, a reporter shoved a copy of the New York Daily News in front of McGovern's nose with a headline reading, "Nixon Will Win By Landslide."
"Do you have any other good news for us?" McGovern replied with a weak smile.
Earlier, in a telephone interview from his hotel room with Rhode Island reporters, McGovern said, "I see no hope at all under the Nixon formula for the war coming to an early end."
In an answer to another question, he said, "We don't think much about losing but if I should lose I'll be a member of the loyal opposition."
McGovern planned visits to Philadelphia and Long Beach, Calif. in the last day of his 22-month effort to win the presidency. He planned a one hour airport rally in Long Beach tonight before returning to Sioux Falls, S.D. to await the outcome of the election.
Fighting his underdog image, McGovern told enthusiastic supporters in New York Sunday night that the political polls, most of which are predicting a Nixon landslide, are dead wrong.
"We're going to give those public opinion pollsters the surprise of their lives," he told a blue collar audience of several thousand at a Brooklyn housing complex.
"We want George," they shouted back. Secret Service agents and police had to strongarm McGovern into his car as the spectators jostled to shake his hand.
While hitting hard on government corruption, wiretapping and presidential vetoes, McGovern used his toughest language against Nixon's failure to end the Vietnam War.
The administration's peace plan "is an election year ploy," the senator told a follow-up rally at a Bronx high school. "Peace is not at hand."
