Clinton Finishes 2nd; Other Rivals Far Back : Democrats: Result raises questions: Can Tsongas repeat? Is Arkansas governor on rebound or decline?

Former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, who made up in dogged determination whatever he lacked in charisma and funds, won the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary Tuesday night, casting a cloud of uncertainty over the contest for the nomination.

With the bulk of the precincts reporting, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was second, with 26% to Tsongas’ 34%. Clinton was the early front-runner in the polls, but his candidacy was badly damaged by unsubstantiated allegations that he had been unfaithful to his wife and by a controversy over his Vietnam-era draft status. Though Clinton denied the charges, the controversies seemed to distract from his message promising national economic revival.

Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin and former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. were closely bunched well behind the leaders. Kerrey had 12%, Harkin 10% and Brown 9%.

But the returns brought disappointment to backers of New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, who had mounted a write-in effort on his behalf. With more than 90% of the vote in, only 3% had written in his name. Backers had hoped to get at least 10% as a demonstration of support to persuade him to get into the race.

But local politicians said the vote was probably not a fair test of Cuomo’s popularity because the use of voting machines in the vast majority of precincts discourages a voter from writing in the name of a candidate not already on the ballot.

An ebullient Tsongas told his supporters at a victory celebration: “We gave them hell!” He said his win represents “a clear call for change” to his party. “The core of my message is that you cannot be pro-jobs and anti-government at the same time. You cannot love employees and despise employers. You cannot redistribute wealth that you never created. No goose, no golden egg.”

He said it is time to “tell the economic truth,” and repeated his opposition to a middle-class tax cut. “Washington, wake up!” he said. “ . . . we are sending you a message. Just tell us the truth. Tell us the truth. We’re grown-ups. We can deal with it, we can overcome it.”

Whatever the ideological significance of Tsongas’ victory, in terms of the struggle for the nomination his success raised more questions than it answered.

The New Hampshire primary had been expected to force at least one of the five major Democrats out of the race. But the bottom three candidates, too, were caught up in the muddle of uncertainty.

Before the vote the general assumption was that whichever one of them finished third would have a considerable advantage in forthcoming contests while a fourth-place finish could conceivably mean the end of the candidacy. Third-place would have been particularly important if the candidate running third had finished closer to the runner-up than the runner-up finished behind the winner.

But that did not happen. Tsongas led Clinton by about 8 points in late returns while Clinton was nearly 15 points ahead of Harkin and Kerrey.

Moreover, the closeness of the battle between Kerrey and Harkin suggested that neither man could claim a clear advantage over the other in the battle for third place. One consequence is that both could have increasing difficulty raising the funds they need to continue their candidacies. They will face off against each other near their home turf on Feb. 25 when South Dakota holds its primary.

Nevertheless, both of them pledged to continue the fight, as did Brown. The former California governor, who came in fifth, is in some ways better positioned than Harkin and Kerrey to continue because his is a Spartan operation. Moreover, he is better known than the other two and less dependent on financial contributions--particularly since he accepts only contributions of no more than $100. The others accept up to the full legal limit of $1,000 per personal contributor.

Whether Tsongas could repeat his success in other parts of the country was open to question, as was whether Clinton’s second-place finish represented a rebound or a decline.

The Arkansas governor chose to put the best face on his situation. Hastening to get his version of the outcome across to the nation he went on television to address his supporters when barely 25% of the vote had been counted. “New Hampshire tonight has made Bill Clinton the comeback kid,” he declared.

Later, in an interview on CNN, Clinton refused to acknowledge that he had been defeated. Instead, he insisted: “We won a huge victory here tonight.”

He pointed out that one tracking poll had shown him trailing Tsongas by 20 points only a few days ago. He did not mention the fact that before the two personal controversies shook his candidacy, polls showed him ahead of Tsongas by a similar margin.

Clinton also said Tsongas enjoyed an advantage because he is a neighbor; his political base in Lowell, Mass., is nearby.

On the other hand, Tsongas operated at a considerable financial disadvantage. He spent only about $280,000 on advertising on four area television stations during the campaign, compared with more than $700,000 for Clinton.

Kerrey was buoyed by his showing as well. “We may not quite be golden yet, but bronze ain’t bad,” he told cheering supporters.

Vowing to continue his campaign, Kerrey declared: “This campaign will not end until we finish George Bush in November of 1992.”

Harkin also received a tumultuous welcome from supporters chanting his name. “Ah, you’re wonderful. You’re wonderful,” he told them at the Granite State Bar and Grill in Manchester.

“I’m telling you right now, every journey begins with a single step. In Iowa, our first step was straight and true,” he said, referring to his first-place showing in his home-state caucuses Feb. 10. “Well, tonight we slowed up a little bit in New Hampshire, but just a little.”

Brown called himself the “voice of the voiceless” and said: “I happen to have a message, and the message is that this system is corrupt. It is not serving the American people. They sit back there in Washington . . . and they don’t worry about the unemployed except in their TV commercials, which are paid for by people in Wall Street, multimillionaires giving thousand-dollar checks.”

If Clinton is to improve on his showing here, he will need to resolve the questions about his character that were raised in this campaign and which were on the minds of the voters Tuesday, according to a Times exit poll of voters who participated in the Democratic primary.

Asked to pick the trait they like most about their candidate, only 3% of Clinton voters said they had no doubts about his ethics, and only 6% said they trusted him more than the other candidates. By contrast, 20% of Tsongas voters picked ethics and 24% trust as what they liked most.

Though electability was widely discussed during the campaign by party activists, it did not seem to be a significant factor on Election Day. Only 3% of Tsongas voters and 15% of Clinton voters cited electability as the chief reason for casting their ballots the way they did.

The traits selected most often by Clinton voters when asked what they liked best about their man were his experience, his leadership qualities, his ability to bring needed change and that he cared for people like them.

Roughly three of four voters named jobs and the economy as the issues most important to them--not surprising in this recession-ravaged state. And more of these voters backed Tsongas than Clinton.

The exit poll illustrated Harkin’s difficulties in this state. Though he depicted himself as the only true legatee of the Democratic Party’s traditional liberal faith, the exit poll showed that of those voters favoring a candidate with traditional Democratic views, only 16% voted for Harkin compared with 30% for Tsongas and 20% for Clinton.

Kerrey had a similar problem with health care. He made the issue the centerpiece of his campaign, but he failed to get most of the votes of those who chose it as one of the top issues.

And, although there has been widespread speculation about Cuomo or some other candidate belatedly entering the race, The Times’ exit poll indicated that voters here are satisfied with the present field. Only 10% said they were supporting their candidate “because he is the best of a bad lot”; 83% said they liked their candidate and his message.

Tsongas, whose bid for the presidency came after an eight-year battle against cancer, vowed to unite the nation. “You know,” he said, “George Bush divided America in order to rule it. I’m going to unite America in order to heal it.”