Maine opts for Hart

Press, 6 March 1984, Page 11

Maine opts for Hart

NZPA-AP Portland Gary Hart, asserting that he “may have brought a Eolitical juggernaut to its nees,” won the Maine Democratic Presidential caucuses yesterday, discrediting Walter Mondale’s lingering claim as frontrunner in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

With 400 of the northeastern state’s 412 caucuses reporting, Mr Hart had 8119 votes, or 50 per cent, to 7015 for Mr Mondale, or 43.4 per cent

At the caucuses — or party gatherings - voters declare support for their favourites. The 3933 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in San

Francisco in July will nominate one candidate to run against the Republican Party’s choice in the election. President Ronald Reagan is expected to win the Republican nomination.

A new newspaper poll indicated trouble for Mr Mondale in Massachusetts, a state where he had appeared all but invincible until Mr Hart emerged. A Boston “Globe” poll of 611 likely voters in the state’s Primary, on March 13, gave Mr Hart 41 per cent support, compared with 29 per cent for Mr Mondale. Senator John Glenn was third with 12 per cent

A former Senator, George McGovern, and a civil

rights leader, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, had 4 per cent each.

Mr Hart’s upset last week in New Hampshire gave Maine an importance that far outstripped the state’s 27 national convention dele; gates. He had finished second to Mr Mondale in lowa’s caucuses last month, replacing Mr Glenn as Mr Mondale’s strongest rival.

Mr Hart seemed ready to run strongly in the next two contests — a non-binding primary in Vermont tomorrow and caucuses in Wyoming on Sunday. In a primary, voters cast secret ballots, while in a caucus they make public declarations of support. Mondale aides said that

they would catch up with Mr Hart in the South, where three primaries were among 10 contests on March 13. More than 500 delegates are at stake in those socalled “super Tuesday” primaries and caucuses in nine states and American Samoa. In Maine, Mr Mondale had long been the favourite because of early and strong organisation and a monopoly on endorsements. But the New Hampshire results led Mr Mondale to make an extensive campaign effort, including heavy advertising and a change in schedule to allow him more time in Maine.