Narrow win over Reagan by Ford

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34087, 26 February 1976, Page 17

Narrow win over Reagan by Ford

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) CONCORD

(New Hampshire), February 25

President Ford narrowly beat his Republican rival, the former film star, Mr Ronald Reagan in the first 1976 Presidential election primary, the results showed today.

The President won 1400 votes more than Mr Reagan, a former Governor of California. Among contenders for the Democratic nomination, the former Governor of Georgia, Mr Jimmy Carter, led the field with a 30 per cent share of votes cast.

With most of the precincts in the New England state of New Hampshire accounted for, Mr Ford had a 51 per cent share of the Republican poll against Mr Reagan’s 49 per cent.

Throughout the primary.

voting was very close, and until near the end of the counting, both candidates were neck and neck, both polling about 50 per cent of the votes.

A heavy vote for Mr Ford in the state’s rural areas balanced Mr Reagan’s edge in Manchester, its largest city.

Mr Jimmy Carter, the former Governor of Georgia, who is regarded as a moderate, has easily won the Democratic primary, defeating four Liberal rivals who shared more than half of their party’s vote. A House of Representatives member, Mr Morris Udall, of Arizona, came second in the Democratic vote, followed by Senator Birch Bayh, of Indiana, a former Senator, Mr Fred Harris, of Okalahoma and Mr Sargent Shriver, the party’s vice-pre-sidential candidate in 1972. United Press Internationa! says that with 54 per cent of the votes counted, the totals are: Reagan, 32,778 (50 per cent); Ford, 32,951 (50 per cent). A heavy vote for Mr Ford in the state’s rural areas bai-

anced Mr Reagan’s edge in Manchester, its largest city. Mr Jimmy Carter, the former Governor of Georgia, who is regarded as a moderate, has easily won the Democratic primary, defeating four , Liberal rivals who shared | more than half of their ■ party’s vote.

A House of Representatives member, Mr Morris Udall, of Arizona, appears to be on his way to a second-place finish, followed by Senator Birch Bayh, of Indiana; a former Senator, Mr Fred Harris, of Oklahoma; and Mr Sargent Shriver, the party’s VicePresidential candidate in 1972.

In an interview at the home of his Manchester campaign chairman, Mr Carter said that he was not at all surprised by his victory. His New Hampshire plurality had proved that “a progressive Southerner could win in the North," he said, adding that he believed it was now quite possible for him to beat Governor George Wallace, of Alabama, in Florida in that state’s primary on March 9.

On the Republican side, the apparent closeness of the vote seems to most observers to assure that neither Mr Ford nor Mr Reagan will be damaged seriously enough to be driven from contention.