Clinton Wins Florida Delegate Straw Poll : Democrats: Arkansas governor commands 54% of votes in an early test of strength in the 1992 campaign. Harkin places second with 31%.

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton decisively defeated Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin on Sunday in a symbolic test of strength among Florida Democrats that illuminated some of the key dynamics currently shaping the party’s presidential race.

Clinton won almost 54% of the vote in the non-binding straw poll at the state Democratic convention here, easily outdistancing Harkin, who placed second with 31%. Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, who initially promised to vigorously compete in the contest but lowered his sights as the vote drew closer, finished third with 10%.

Former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. all attracted only token support. A write-in drive for New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, who is still deciding whether to run, drew only 21 of the nearly 1,800 ballots cast--less than any of the candidates except Brown, who received four.

With Clinton riding a wave of favorable notices from recent speeches, aides saw new signs of momentum in the one-sided vote. “We won a big share of just about every segment of the (Florida) Democratic Party,” said David Wilhelm, Clinton’s campaign manager.

If Clinton was the big winner Sunday, the vote also may have sent ominous signals to Cuomo. Though he ran first in a poll of rank-and-file Florida Democrats released last week, this audience of insiders was visibly exasperated with his indecision over whether to enter the race.

The delegates exuberantly booed Cuomo’s name each time a write-in vote for him was announced. And Broward County party Chairman Russell G. Barakat received one of the day’s loudest ovations when he forcefully declared that his caucus had cast “zero votes for anyone who would dare enter the race from this day forward.”

Although no national convention delegates were at stake in Sunday’s vote, it represented the first opportunity for Democratic activists anywhere in the nation to formally express their sentiments on the contenders. Democratic National Committee officials have frowned on such tests as a distraction, but the vote drew a spirited organizational effort from both Harkin and Clinton, as well as several trips to the state by Kerrey and Tsongas.

Held in the shadow of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, the convention at times had a confectionary quality as the two top finishers and their campaigns dueled with phone banks, mailings and busloads of volunteers in a contest that was purely symbolic.

But with Clinton, Harkin, Kerrey and Tsongas all personally wooing delegates, the weekend gathering provided a snapshot of their strengths and weaknesses--and also sharpened some of their differences.

As elsewhere, Clinton’s support appeared to rest on two pillars: the belief that his moderate message makes him the strongest candidate against President Bush, and the sense that he has offered the most detailed agenda. “He has a lot more proposals than I’ve heard from the others,” said James Rockefeller, a Dade County prosecutor.

But some delegates, like Rockefeller’s colleague Jeri Cohen, recoiled from Clinton as “a little too polished . . . and packaged.”

Harkin’s showing--which ran below expectations--rested largely on support from organized labor, which he wooed with a strong denunciation of the proposed free-trade agreement with Mexico and lavish praise of government employees and teachers. But his appeal was limited as many delegates expressed worries that his liberal message could not carry Florida in the general election.

Those delegates attracted to Kerrey appeared drawn less by his still sketchy agenda for “fundamental change” than his dramatic personal story of recovery from the loss of his leg in the Vietnam War. Still, some politicians in the audience saw his lackluster showing as symptomatic of a national campaign that is having problems getting on track.

Although Tsongas drew respectful audiences, it was again clear that many activists outside New Hampshire--where he has focused his efforts--do not consider him a serious contender.

In this intimate combat, the candidates--who have generally ducked chances to directly criticize each other--sharpened some of their elbows. Clinton supporters, for example, complained that Harkin backers were conducting a “whispering campaign” criticizing the governor’s views on abortion.

Clinton himself, while stressing his support for maintaining legal abortion, struggled to explain to women activists his signing an Arkansas bill that requires minors seeking an abortion to notify their parents or a judge. He also was closely questioned about recent statements in which he renounced his historic opposition to Medicaid funding of abortions for poor women.

Still, his strong showing Sunday generally was seen as an indication that his appeal is broadening.