Bush victories may overwhelm McCain effort

AUSTIN - Gov. George W. Bush hit a jackpot of primary wins Tuesday, effectively derailing Sen. John McCain's insurgent bid for the Republican presidential nomination. <br><br>Mr. Bush swept to victories

Wednesday, March 8th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

AUSTIN - Gov. George W. Bush hit a jackpot of primary wins Tuesday, effectively derailing Sen. John McCain's insurgent bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Mr. Bush swept to victories in Georgia and Ohio and several other states in an electoral advance aimed at squeezing the Arizona senator from the race.

"It appears that Governor Bush's victory is going to be wide and deep and almost everywhere," said Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes.

Early returns had Mr. McCain winning the Northeastern states of Vermont and Massachusetts.

"It is clear we have done very well on the East Coast," Mr. McCain said in a cautious statement early in the evening. "Clearly our message of reform has had a powerful impact."

At stake Tuesday were 613 GOP delegates in California, New York and 11 other states coast to coast - more than half of the number needed for the nomination.

Although neither candidate could accumulate enough delegates to clinch the nomination, the contest promised to shape the momentum by moving Mr. Bush to the brink of the nomination or keeping Mr. McCain's insurgent campaign alive.

The Texas governor said he's been steeled by the rigorous contest for the Republican nomination and is prepared to face likely Democratic opponent Al Gore in the fall.
"It's the politics of personal destruction. If you don't happen to agree with them on an issue, they'd much rather fight than debate," he told reporters midday at the Capitol.

Mr. Bush, who spent recent days barnstorming New York and California, returned to Texas early Tuesday morning to watch the returns at an Austin hotel.

Mr. McCain was in California, where he chatted with radio talk show hosts early in the day in hopes of securing enough delegates to save his insurgent bid.

McCain aides said it would be difficult to reach the 200 or so delegates they figure he needs to stay competitive with Mr. Bush. At the same time, they held out hope that the Arizona senator could benefit from a higher-than-expected turnout among independents, Democrats, and new voters drawn to his message of government reform.

Exit polls

Polls closed first in Georgia, where Mr. Bush fared well among people identifying themselves in exit polls as Christian conservatives, and in Vermont, where Mr. McCain was favored by first-time GOP voters and supporters of campaign-finance reform.

According to the interviews conducted at polling places in several states, Mr. Bush did well among older voters and those who said taxes and education were top priorities.

Mr. McCain fared better among men, moderates, independents and people voting in their first Republican primary. His voters said Social Security and Medicare were their most important issues.

The exit polling was conducted by Voter News Service, a consortium of news organizations.
Also on the ballot was conservative radio talk show host Alan Keyes.

In the week leading up to Tuesday's climactic, multistate primaries, Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain accused the other of politicizing religion.
Mr. McCain, whose courtship of independents and Democrats helped him win New Hampshire and Michigan, sought to reclaim rank-and-file Republicans for Tuesday's primaries.

But while the self-described "Ronald Reagan conservative" stressed his opposition to taxes and "pork barrel" spending, he also may have alienated religious conservatives, a key part of the Reagan coalition.

In a Feb. 28 speech, the Arizona senator blasted fundamentalist leaders Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, saying they were dragging the party too far from the political mainstream.
Mr. Robertson said Tuesday that Mr. McCain's strategy backfired.

"George Bush is a uniter," he said. "McCain has come through as a divider."

Critical ads

Mr. McCain also protested Mr. Bush's campaign tactics, particularly harsh ads questioning his commitment to breast-cancer research and the environment.

Another pro-Bush commercial, financed largely by Dallas investor Sam Wyly, took aim at Mr. McCain's environmental record.
McCain forces complained that the ad constituted illegal collusion between the Bush campaign and Mr. Wyly, one of the governor's biggest financial backers.

The Bush campaign denied any coordination.

The breast-cancer ad berated Mr. McCain for voting against particular research programs in New York. Mr. McCain said he opposed those programs because they were added to a defense bill with no hearings or debate.

Before the polls closed Tuesday, Mr. McCain said he liked his chances in New York and all the New England states but would probably need more to stay in the race.

In California's winner-take-all primary, anyone could vote in the Republican primary but only the Republican voted counted toward the distribution of its 162 delegates.

The arrangement posed the possibility that one candidate could win the popular vote while another could take all the delegates.
Some aides said that if Mr. McCain were to win the popular vote but lose the delegates, the campaign would consider a rules challenge at the national convention this summer in Philadelphia.

Mr. McCain, a self-styled populist who made reforming the campaign-finance system his signature issue, was strongest in five New England states accounting for 102 of the delegates at stake Tuesday. But even there Mr. Bush broke through with a victory in Maine, where his family has a summer home.
So confident of victory were Bush operatives that they scheduled a string of fund-raisers through April to replenish a campaign treasury depleted by a record $60 million in spending.

Staff writer Wayne Slater reported from Austin. Staff writer David Jackson reported from Beverly Hills, Calif. Staff writer Sam Attlesey in Austin contributed to this report.