I'm actually going to write about McCarthy in a separate article. As I deeply admire Hubert Humphrey and think he would have been a superb President I have a lot of issues with both RFK and McCarthy;'s primary campaign for the Democratic nomination. Neither had any real chance to gain the nomination via primary route (Humphrey had the backing of the democratic Party machine which controlled more delegates) and as long as the two of them went against each other, they distracted America from that possibility. Had one gotten out of the race and supported the other, they might have had a chance at Chicago. Years later Kennedy's campaign admitted the night of the California primary was likely going to be the highpoint of the campaign; Humprhey was all but certain to wrap it up in the next few days. Kennedy's assassination has covered that fact and left an aura that he would have been able to win in Chicago.
This also leaves out the fact that LBJ, by the mid-summer, was actively reconsidering reentering the fray. He despised Kennedy and he didn't think Humphrey had the balls. He actually sent Connally there to scout out Johnson delegates and was planning to come to Chicago to try his luck. Daley told him if he did, his safety could not be guaranetted. That also explains why he chose to gut Humphrey afterwards, something Walter Mondale concurs with as much as Clifford did.
Kennedy's plan was based out of sheer ambition; I tryuly think he was trying to set himself up as the front runner for the nomination in 1972 rather than win the nomination outright. The belief he could have won lingered decade after his death but Ted White himself wrote that he thought it unlikely and I trust him more than other sources.
I am in accord about Wallace but he had been around before that election and was going to be a big drive in the next two. I've written a series about that for my blog. And this one which followed in 1972, might actually be of interest to readers.
Good job by the way