NATIONAL ELECTION RETURNS : State-by-State Election Reports of Key Races and Issues : Nebraska

Vice President George Bush won Nebraska’s five electoral votes by a wide margin.

Democrat Bob Kerrey, who ousted a Republican incumbent to win the governorship in his first bid for public office in 1982, continued the pattern by defeating GOP Sen. David Karnes.

Kerrey is a 45-year-old Medal of Honor winner who made national news while governor for his romance with movie star Debra Winger.

Karnes, at 39 the youngest member of the Senate, was appointed in March, 1987, to fill the vacancy left by the death of Democrat Ed Zorinsky.

The GOP’s lock on Nebraska’s three congressional seats ended with the victory of former state Sen. Democrat Peter Hoagland in the 2nd District over Republican Jerry Schenken, a pathologist. Incumbent Hal Daub lost to Karnes in the Republican Senate primary.

The other two Republican congressmen won reelection.

Nebraska voters also voted on whether to withdraw their state from the Central Interstate compact, one of eight regional systems for disposing of low-level nuclear waste. As a “host” state, Nebraska is to begin receiving waste from four surrounding states for the next 30 years.