ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060080
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
note: lede
Sen. Bob Dole swept eight primaries Tuesday and seized an overwhelming lead in the Republican presidential race as GOP voters blocked Pat Buchanan's conservative challenge and turned the party's attention to beating President Clinton in November.
``We'll return conservative leadership to the White House,'' Dole told cheering supporters in Washington, acting as if the nomination fight was over. ``And I will be very proud to carry that banner.''
So overwhelming were Dole's victories that two lagging rivals - former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar - decided to quit the race today, shrinking the field for the contests ahead.
Dole, flush with confidence that his third bid for the GOP nomination would be successful, told The Associated Press, ``I always felt in my heart it was going to happen, but you never know until the people vote.''
He told the victory rally that the mission for Republicans is to defeat Clinton.
Dole won primaries in Georgia, Vermont, Connecticut, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Colorado and Rhode Island - a ``Junior Tuesday'' primary sweep. There also were caucuses in Minnesota and Washington to begin choosing their convention delegates.
Dole entered the night with 91 delegates and was winning at least 179 of the 208 at stake in primary states. That gave him at least 270, more than a quarter of the way toward the 996 needed to clinch nomination. Publisher Steve Forbes was a distant second, with 63 delegates.
Dole predicted his lead would bulge even more after New York's primary Thursday and then again in next week's ``Super Tuesday'' contests in Texas, Florida and five other states. New York awards 93 delegates; 362 are at stake the following Tuesday. He was heading to Texas on Wednesday, to pick up the endorsement of Gov. George W. Bush.
Convinced Dole's lead was insurmountable, Lugar and Alexander decided Tuesday night to bow out of the race. Lugar planned a noon announcement in Washington; Alexander was heading to Tennessee to make his announcement.
Buchanan, though, headed to Florida and vowed to fight all the way to the Republican convention. ``It's a very uphill battle,'' he acknowledged. But even if he can't beat Dole, Buchanan made clear he wanted enough delegates to make his mark in San Diego.
``I don't know if I'm going to be the nominee, but it's going to be a Pat Buchanan party,'' Buchanan said. ``We're going to write the platform for them.''
The results, however, showed Buchanan's support was wilting. His core support splintered in Tuesday's voting, and he failed to match his 1992 primary showings in Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and Georgia.
Forbes wasn't falling into line behind Dole either. He criticized Dole as representing ``politics as usual,'' and said, ``The field is clearing out. There are these three clear stark choices.''
Dole's victories were all the more striking by their size. In Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode Island, Dole won by 2-to-1 margins. In Massachusetts and Maine his lead was more than 20 points. Only Georgia was relatively close - and Dole was beating Buchanan by nine points there, a state where Buchanan had boasted of his conservative appeal.
The returns looked like this:
In Georgia, with 92 percent of the precincts counted, Dole had 40 percent, Buchanan 30 percent, Alexander 13 and Forbes 12.
The New England states were solid for Dole. He was picking up 48 percent of the vote in Massachusetts, with Buchanan next at 25. In Connecticut, Dole had 54 percent and Forbes 20 and Buchanan 15 percent. In Vermont, it was 41 percent for Dole, with Buchanan, Forbes and Lugar all in the teens. In Maine, Dole had 46 percent, Buchanan 25.
In Maryland, Dole had 53 percent and Buchanan 21.
Colorado gave Dole 44 percent, Buchanan 21 percent and Forbes 20 percent.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: 1. chart - The Race So Far color APby CNB2. chart - Primary results from eight states color KRT KEYWORDS: PRESIDENT POLITICS