ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996 TAG: 9603080094
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
note: lede
Bob Dole won a landslide New York primary victory Thursday, opening a resounding lead in the Republican presidential race and declaring it was ``time to start the fight for November.'' Even so, rivals Steve Forbes and Pat Buchanan vowed to battle on.
New Yorkers voted for delegates - not directly for candidates - and Dole supporters won at least 92 of the 93 spots. Forbes led for one delegate, and Buchanan was shut out. A voter survey showed that across New York, 53 percent favored Dole, 30 percent Forbes and 14 percent Buchanan.
``When it comes to picking the Republican nominee, it's over - it's Bob Dole,'' said Gov. George Pataki, a Dole partisan. Dole cast his win as an ``overwhelming statement of Republican unity'' and said it was time for Republicans ``to defeat Bill Clinton and return conservative leadership to the presidency.''
In an interview, Dole said it wasn't for him to tell Forbes and Buchanan to quit the race, but suggested they take a long look at the lopsided New York results. ``Let's move on and recognize it's time to start the fight for November,'' the Senate majority leader told The Associated Press.
Buchanan has cast himself as the only Republican candidate able to attract Ross Perot voters. In an interview, however, the Texas billionaire told the Washington Post ``his message is not mine,'' casting Buchanan as too belligerent in criticizing U.S. trading partners. He said he saw no similarities between himself and Forbes and did not offer an opinion of Dole.
New Yorkers braved snow or cold rain to vote, and many had a humdrum attitude about a race that was without a front-runner less than a week ago. ``You pick because you have to, but it's not much of a choice,'' said Maria Avellino, a 22-year-old mother of three in Brooklyn who voted for Dole.
Dole's delegate bonanza brought his national total to 382, with 996 needed to clinch the nomination. Forbes had 72 delegates and was leading for one New York delegate by a thin margin. Buchanan was stuck at 62.
"If the others want to stay in, they ought to focus on Bill Clinton and not kick me," Dole told AP from Florida.
But his rivals weren't willing to quit, even as they acknowledged the long odds.
Forbes said he would contest the Super Tuesday primaries next week, and his schedule was dominated by Florida. Afterward, he said he would challenge Dole in the big Midwest states and then California at the end of the month.
Forbes blamed his resounding defeat on the New York GOP establishment - led by Pataki and Sen. Alfonse D'Amato. ``It was stacked against us,'' Forbes said.
Pataki said Dole's big margins in recent primaries gave him plenty of leeway to choose a running mate who supported abortion rights, Buchanan's protests notwithstanding.
``I don't know where these people live - but clearly not in the real world,'' Bay Buchanan, her brother's campaign manager, said in response to that, promising a vigorous convention fight if Dole took that course.
Only Forbes and Dole were on the New York ballot statewide. Buchanan competed in two-thirds of the state's 31 congressional districts but didn't get any reward for his tenacious effort to overcome New York's arcane ballot access laws.
Surveys of voters as they left their precincts across New York provided evidence of each candidate's niche in the GOP race: Those worried most about abortion chose Buchanan; voters driven most by taxes picked flat-tax champion Forbes.
The most important candidate quality to New York voters was experience in Washington, a big change from the earlier primaries, and one that clearly benefited Dole.
More than six in 10 said Buchanan was too extreme.
Playing to win here, Forbes invested nearly $1.5 million just to get on the ballot and then another $1 million plus on television advertising. After promising weeks ago that he was through airing attack ads, Forbes ran ads berating the Kansas senator as a habitual tax-raiser.
New York's 93 were the biggest single-state prize so far in the primary season. On Tuesday, 362 more will be chosen, including 98 from Florida and 123 more from Texas. Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Oregon also have ``Super Tuesday'' contests.
The Republican contest then moves to Dole's home turf, the Midwest, where most of the GOP governors are Dole supporters. Forbes has talked of spending heavily in California's March 26 primary, but hasn't made much of an effort yet in the big states that come before then.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP A snowmobiler cruises past a polling place inby CNBPoughkeepsie, N.Y., on Thursday, the day of the New York primary.
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2. chart - The Race So Far. color STAFF KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENT