Bush Wins in Idaho; Dukakis Leads With 77%

Vice President George Bush, who already has the Republican nomination virtually wrapped up, easily won Idaho’s Republican presidential primary on Tuesday, while Michael S. Dukakis was cruising to an overwhelming victory in the Democrats’ non-binding vote.

With 49% of the precincts reporting, Bush had 82% of the vote to 9% for Pat Robertson, who is no longer an active contender. Dukakis was pulling in 77% to 14% for the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Sens. Albert Gore Jr. and Paul Simon, both of whom have suspended their Democratic presidential campaigns, were getting 3% each.

Bush was a shoo-in to claim the 18 national convention delegates at stake in the lackluster primary. The Democratic vote was purely a “beauty contest” exercise; front-runner Dukakis claimed a majority of the delegates at caucuses two months ago.

With no statewide elected offices at stake this year and the presidential candidates all but formally crowned, there was little to draw Idaho voters to the polls beyond a handful of heated legislative and local races. Only about one in three registered voters were expected to cast ballots.

“For various reasons, the presidential election and others, neither we nor the county clerks are seeing very much intensity in this one,” Deputy Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said.