Muskie pleased by win

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32874, 24 March 1972, Page 9

Muskie pleased by win

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) . CHICAGO, March 23. Senator Edmund Muskie, given a desperatelyneeded boost by the voters of Illinois, was confident that he would go on to win the Democratic party nomination for the Presidency at Miami next July.

A substantial winner against the former Senator, Mr Eugene McCarthy, in the preferential ballot in the irairie state — where he won by 63 per cent to 37 per cent margin — Senator Muskie expressed elation and hope that this trend would continue through the remaining 20 primaries.

The 57-year-old Maine Senator came to Illinois as a badly battered contender

after his unconvincing win in New Hampshire and his heavy defeat in Florida. He expressed his relief that the Mid-western voters had not turned their backs on him.

“I can’t remember when anything has given me more of a lift,” he confessed. “It’s been an uphill fight (since Florida), but it indicates to me that we will not only win the nomination in July but the presidency in November.”

But in 13 days he has to jump his hardest hurdle yet — the primary in neighbouring Wisconsin, where the entire field of Democratic contenders will clash head-on in the most crucial battle of the early primaries. He will be up against such formidable opposition as Governor George Wallace, victor in Florida, Senator Hubert Humphrey, who got a boost there, and Senator George McGovern, who did well in New Hampshire. Mr McCarthy — the giantkiller of the turbulent 1968 campaign — also announced his satisfaction with the Illinois result, his first campaign venture in 1972.

His share of the votes, he told cheering supporters — mainly college, students — was a “significant beginning.”

“I am quite content and satisfied,” he said. “We’ve done very well, certainly better than expected and we are looking at other states now.” , In the separate, and more important race for delegate support at the Democratic nominating convention in Miami Beach on July 10, Senator - Muskie also grabbed a surprisingly large slice of the

160 members of the Illinois delegation elected on Tuesday. Ten "at large” delegates will be selected in addition later. With returns continuing to dribble in, Senator Muskie appeared likely to win a block of 60 delegates committed to him, while Senator McGovern who by-passed the preferential ballot to concentrate on winning delegate support, could seemingly count on only 14. Senator McCarthy had so far failed to pick up any delegate support

Candidates running as "uncommitted” had won 86 spots. Most of these were expected to remain under the control of the Chicago Mayor, Mr Richard Daley, to be swung to a favoured candidate as the convention opens. The delegate situation provided the only bright glimmer in a disastrous election for the 69-year-old Mayor whose iron grip on his powerful Democratic organisation failed to ward off the shock of defeat His disciplined, highly organised machine, which had marshalled an unbroken string of primary victories for the last 34 years, was stunned, by. the victories of two men who ran defiantly against his chosen candidates. • A Cook County State’s Attorney, Mr Edward Hanrahan, dumped by the Mayor’s organisation for nomination to a second' ’term, swept aside .the Daley candidate, a traffic court judge, Mr Raymond Berg, and an independent Democrat, Mr Donald Page Moore.

Aided by a massive turn out of Republican voters in Chicago’s suburbs who took full advantage of a new electoral law allowing the crossing of party lines in primary balloting, Mr Hanrahan captured 42 per cent of the vote and a majority of more than 100,000 votes over Mr Berg and 114,000 over Mr Moore.

Republicans — presented with unique opportunity to embarrass the Mayor who has so often beaten their

own candidates—also crossed their party line to help Mr Daniel Walker, a “maverick” who covered 1200 miles on foot during a. 15-month campaign, squeeze out a narrow win over the Illinois lieuten-ant-governor, Mr Paul Simon, for the Democratic nomination for the state governorship.