Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 11, 1992 TAG: 9202110240
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DES MOINES, IOWA LENGTH: Medium
HARKIN WINS ALMOST 90% IN IOWA
Sen. Tom Harkin scored a decisive home-state victory by default Monday night in Iowa caucuses that inaugurated the wide-open 1992 Democratic presidential race. His rivals skipped the contest, pointing toward next week's primary showdown in New Hampshire.Harkin, 52 years old and the most liberal Democrat in a field of five, was gaining almost 90 percent support as he bid for momentum in the tumultuous campaign week to come.
Harkin called the results "far better than anything I ever imagined." He said it would give him a boost in New Hampshire, where his rivals await.
Uncommitted delegates were Harkin's closest competitor. The other Democrats in the race - Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, former Sen. Paul Tsongas and former California Gov. Jerry Brown - made no effort even to compete for second place.
That made Iowa a one-candidate show - a rarity since Jimmy Carter used the caucuses in 1976 as a launching pad to the White House. Customarily, candidates have lavished months of campaigning - and tens of thousands of dollars in television advertising - in the state.
With 16 percent of the state's 2,186 precincts reporting, Harkin had 89 percent support. Uncommitted had 7 percent, while his four rivals had one percent apiece.
Harkin was optimistic, and looking ahead, with his favorite-son victory. "My polls, my numbers keep going up all the time in New Hampshire," he said.
If a caucus televised by C-SPAN from Council Bluffs was any indication, the party sessions were polite minuets of democracy in action. Kerrey supporters sought to entice defections from Harkin, but to no avail. And the politicking, such as it was, lasted less than an hour.
"You've made this a real painless meeting," Clarence Meldrum, a longtime precinct leader in his western Iowa community, said as it concluded.
Keywords:
POLITICS