ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 9, 1996 TAG: 9611110029
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SALEM, ORE.
Three days after the election, frozen-food tycoon Gordon Smith finally won his race Friday to succeed Republican Sen. Mark Hatfield, widening the GOP's majority to 55-45.
A count of absentee ballots from Tuesday's election gave Smith the victory over Democrat Tom Bruggere, a computer software company founder making his first bid for office.
It had been the nation's only undecided Senate race.
Smith had held a slight lead over Bruggere in returns from Tuesday's election, but with an extraordinary 500,000 absentee ballots yet to be counted, neither side had declared victory.
In winning Hatfield's seat, Smith overcame Bruggere's campaign charges that he was a corporate polluter and anti-abortion activist.
Smith, 44, said while he philosophically opposed abortion, he would not support recriminalizing abortion, nor would he use the issue as a litmus test in considering judicial appointments.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 31 lines KEYWORDS: ELECTIONby CNB