Simon Wins as Bush Sweeps On : Vice President Moves Closer to Nomination

Vice President Bush moved closer to clinching the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday by soundly beating Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole in the Illinois primary.

The decisive victory, coming on the heels of Bush’s 16-state sweep in last week’s Super Tuesday primary, should give the vice president an almost insurmountable lead in the crucial count for delegates.

With 75% of the ballots counted in the non-binding statewide “beauty contest,” Bush had 339,461 votes or 55% of the GOP total; Dole had 223,039 or 36%, and Pat Robertson had 42,889 or 7%.

Substantial Majority

Bush went into the Illinois primary with 705 of the 1,139 delegates needed for the nomination, and incomplete returns here indicated he would win a substantial majority of the 92 delegates at stake.

The outcome not only dashed Dole’s hopes for a comeback but put pressure on him to reconsider his candidacy in the name of party unity. In Washington, there were reports that several of Dole’s Republican colleagues in the Senate were prepared to advise him to withdraw in the interest of both party unity and his continuing role as Senate minority leader.

The Kansas senator, who has been harshly critical of Bush and has repeatedly labeled him a loser to the Democrats in the fall, went into the Illinois primary with only 165 delegates.

Despite his loss here, Dole insisted he would remain in the race, and Bush told reporters that based on Dole’s comments, he has seen no evidence that the senator intends to withdraw.

Even as Illinois voters went to the polls Tuesday, Dole campaigned in Connecticut and Wisconsin, where the next two primaries will be held. Although he knew the vote was going against him in Illinois, he told Wisconsin voters he was sure they were too independent-minded to be swayed by Bush’s victories in other states.

After his campaign trips, Dole returned to Washington where he slipped off his campaign plane and tried to scurry, button-lipped, around a throng of waiting reporters as he headed toward his posh Watergate apartment.

“I don’t give up easily--staying in, staying in,” he muttered in response to questions about the future of his sputtering campaign.

In Race ‘for Long Haul’

Despite Dole’s glum demeanor, both he and his aides spent Tuesday trying to convince voters--and perhaps themselves--that he can yet revive his ailing campaign.

William E. Brock III, Dole’s national campaign chairman, said Dole’s purpose for stumping in Wisconsin and Connecticut on Tuesday was “consciously to say we were in this race for the long haul and we will be aggressively campaigning.”

Although there were numerous reports that Dole will discuss the future of his candidacy when he meets with several colleagues in the Senate today, Brock denied reports that the senators plan to urge Dole’s withdrawal.

“That’s not an effort to evaluate whether he stays in the race,” Brock said. “That is an effort to evaluate where he is and what steps he might take in the future.”

Bush’s Victory Rally

Meanwhile, an ebullient Bush, addressing a victory rally of 300 cheering supporters at his campaign headquarters near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, declared: “Who says nice guys finish last?”

He called his triumph here “a great and convincing victory” and promised to “take our message of hope and opportunity, strength and peace” throughout the country, adding: “Wherever there’s a primary, I’ll be there.

“This is a national victory for a national campaign,” Bush declared. “Illinois has spoken loud and clear and strong and now we go on.”

Leaving nothing to chance despite his huge lead in the race, Bush traveled to Milwaukee for four hours of campaigning on Tuesday before returning to Chicago for the victory celebration.

The vice president, asked whether he thought Dole would now drop out of the race, said: “Not according to what he said. There can’t be enough delegates (in Illinois) to physically wrap it up. A lot depends on how well I do with the delegates.”

Questions about the survival of Dole’s candidacy have persisted because the senator, ever since his devastating Super Tuesday defeat, has himself gone back and forth about whether he might withdraw. Several times he has held out hope that Bush’s campaign would come apart if voters would just “stop and think” and realize Bush would be a losing candidate against the Democrats in November.

Addressing state legislators in Madison, Wis., on Tuesday, Dole declared: “I want you to know that Bob Dole is alive and well and running for President and is going to be the Republican nominee and is going to be elected in November.”

At another point, indicating some ambivalence about his plans, Dole said he would discuss his situation with his wife, Elizabeth, and “make a judgment.” But he said: “It’s too early.”

Former religious broadcaster Robertson, the third candidate in the race, finished far back in the voting and, according to Los Angeles Times exit polls, drew extremely high negative marks from the voters.

But Robertson, whose campaign expenditures are now within about $3 million of the $27-million limit imposed by federal law, said he is strapped for funds but will continue in the race, although at a much-reduced level.

“I have enough money to keep in the race through California and the convention,” he said. “But I don’t have enough to do telemarketing and television. . . . My own personal travel will continue, but as far as a full-blown campaign, I can’t afford (that) any more.”

Bush’s decisive victory in Illinois may have given him a virtual lock on the Republican nomination, but it also left him with a major problem of trying to unify the party for the fall campaign against the Democrats.

The vice president, not unaware of the problem he might face in bringing Dole and some of his supporters back into the fold, has refrained from criticizing the senator since the Super Tuesday blow-out and has said he intends to conduct himself in a manner that would “bring together all the Republicans.”

In fact, after his victory over Dole in the New Hampshire primary a month ago, Bush began moderating any criticism of the senator. But Dole, seething over what he considered an unfair attack by Bush in New Hampshire suggesting Dole might raise taxes as President, has grown more strident in his criticism of the vice president.

Insisting that as minority leader he has done more than Bush to promote President Reagan’s policies, Dole has been especially bitter about the vice president’s success in identifying himself with the President.

Referring to a television commercial that shows Bush and Reagan together and the President putting his arm around Bush’s shoulder, Dole declared:

“I don’t have nearly as many pictures of Ronald Reagan as George Bush has. He must have a pile 6 feet deep. I can’t match him in photos. But I can match him in record.”

Bush’s problem of trying to unify the party was underscored by Dole’s vow to continue campaigning to the bitter end, and by exit polls that showed some anti-Bush sentiment among Dole supporters. The polls also suggested other potential Bush weaknesses that were not apparent in the vice president’s sweep of the Super Tuesday contests last week.

A Los Angeles Times poll of voters leaving the polls in Illinois on Tuesday showed that Dole supporters generally had a negative impression of Bush.

The poll also pointed up another potential problem for Bush: Independent voters, who supported Bush on Super Tuesday, generally favored Dole in Illinois. To win in November, the Republican nominee will not only have to unify his minority party, he will have to win enough support among independents and Democrats to form a majority.

As in Bush’s other primary victories, his close ties to Reagan and his broad experience in government were major assets. A majority of Bush voters cited his experience as the principal reason for their vote, and he was the clear favorite among the overwhelming majority of Republican voters--80% in Illinois--who approve of Reagan’s job performance.

Staff writers Cathleen Decker and Bob Secter contributed to this story.

Candidate Standings--Associated Press delegate totals, all contests to date

Republicans

1,139 delegates needed to secure nomination

Bush: 769

Dole: 183

Uncommitted: 72

Robertson: 17

Others: 0

Democrats

Dukakis: 464.50

Jackson: 459.00

Gore: 354.80

Uncommitted: 272.65

Simon: 162.00

Gephardt: 145.00

Others: 0.00