Brown quits race for presidency

Press, 3 April 1980, Page 6

Brown quits race for presidency

NZPA-Reuter Milwaukee, Wisconsin President Carter scored impressive victories in the Wisconsin and Kansas Democratic primaries, dealing Senator Edward Kennedy’s revived White House hopes a double blow and forcing the Governor of California (Mr Jerry Brown) to withdraw from the race. •

But Mr Kennedy’s campaign manager, Stephen Smith, said the Massachusetts senator had no intention of giving up his challenge. On the Republican side, the frontJ-runrier, Ronald Reagan, won. in both states as expected. Both of his challengers, the liberal Illinois Congressman, John Anderson, and Mr George Bush, seemed to be-out of the race for their party’s nomination.

In Wisconsin, an unpredictable liberal-leaning state where a close race had been forecast, late returns showed - President! Carter . leading Senator Kennedy by 55 to .31 per cent, ' with . - Governor Brown winning 13 per cent. r

Mr Carter’s lead over Senator Kennedy in con-, servative, wheat-growing Kansas was 56 to 32 per cent, .with about, - 5 per

cent going to Mr Brown. In the Republican camp, Mr Reagan, who. is 69, was leading the Wisconsin contest with 38 per cent of the votes, followed by Mr Bush with 31 per cent and Mr Anderson 29 per cent. In Kansas, the former actor and California Governor had a huge lead with 63 per cent of the votes against 18 per cent for Mr Anderson and 13 per cent for Mr Bush. Mr Brown,- who. had campaigned vigorously in Wisconsin* for; more than three wieks, ; announced fhe was withdrawing from the presidential race but said he would ? continue to work to save the country from depression and war.

The 41-year-old governor, was asked whether he intended to try for the White House a third time in 1984: “I don’t even want to think that far down the road,” he told dispirited supporters gathered in a Milwaukee hotel. Mr Brown’s showing in Wisconsin fell short of the 20 per cent he needed to remain eligible for matching Federal campaign funds.

In Washington, the •White House press secretary, Jody Powell, said President! Carter’s wins gave him a strong boost towards clinching the Democratic nomination. - Mr Powell said Mr Carter was especially pleased to rebound quickly from the defeats Mr Kennedy handed him in New York and Connecticut last week, and suggested the senator had been hurt by his “strident” and “negative” campaign criticisms of the President.

Although he declined to say the President now had the nomination locked up, Mr Powell made a point of saying Senator Kennedy now would have to win 64 per cent of the nominating convention delegates available in the remaining states in order to overtake Mr Carter.