Kerrey Gets Win in South Dakota : Politics: Nebraska senator says strong showing is a ‘new beginning’ for his campaign. Uncommitted vote casts cloud over Bush’s victory in the Republican contest.

Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey scored a strong victory in South Dakota’s Democratic primary Tuesday and declared that it will create a “new beginning” for his campaign as voters take a second look at the party’s increasingly jumbled race for President.

Republican voters in the nation’s second primary, meanwhile, tarnished President Bush’s victory as close to a third of those who turned out cast their ballots for an uncommitted slate of convention delegates.

With 100% of the precincts reporting, Bush--running unopposed in the state--had 69% of the vote while the uncommitted slate had 31%. Bush’s failure to do better was all the more surprising because, unlike the New Hampshire primary, where hard times fueled an impressive showing last week by his major challenger for the GOP presidential nomination, Patrick J. Buchanan, the economy in South Dakota is fairly healthy.

Buchanan did not declare his candidacy in time to appear on the South Dakota ballot.

With 100% of the precincts reporting in the Democratic race, Kerrey had 40%, followed by another farm-state candidate, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, with 25%. Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton had 19%, while former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, unable to capitalize on his victory last week in New Hampshire, ran a distant fourth with 10%. Former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. finished fifth with 4%, and former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran received 1%.

“Tonight, we’ve struck gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota,” Kerrey told a packed victory party in Sioux Falls less than an hour after the polls closed. Referring to his third-place finish in New Hampshire, he added: “As much as I like bronze, it was with some difficulty that I tried to convince people we had a solid victory in New Hampshire. There’s no question we have a solid victory here in South Dakota.”

Kerrey is hoping his South Dakota win will give him a boost heading into a series of Southern and Western state primaries and caucuses in the next two weeks.

The race for the White House now swings from its focus on small states, in which a win mainly carries symbolic value, into a sprint for the lion’s share of the 2,144 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination. Within the next two weeks, more than 1,200 delegates will be at stake in two dozen contests.

The South Dakota primary has been viewed as essential to both Kerrey and Harkin because it would test their strength in their home region. It assumed more importance following their back-of-the-pack finishes in the New Hampshire vote.

Harkin, who finished fourth in New Hampshire, left South Dakota on Tuesday afternoon as exit poll projections indicated that he was going to lose to Kerrey. Earlier, however, he pledged to continue his campaign, whatever the outcome in South Dakota.

“My campaign is national, and we will go on,” he said. “There is a lot left to happen in this race; it has just started.”

Tuesday night, after the exit poll projections had been confirmed, he said in a statement: “The message out of South Dakota is that the Democratic presidential primary is more wide open than ever; there is no front-runner. . . . The Olympics may be over in Albertville, but here, in the Democratic Party primaries, I say: ‘Let the games begin.’ ”

Tsongas, who attended a fund-raiser in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday night, blamed his poor showing on negative campaigning by his rivals, especially Kerrey. “The fact is our opponents used negative advertising against me and it had its impact,” Tsongas told hundreds of supporters.

A Kerrey ad called attention to Tsongas’ lack of background and experience on agricultural issues, which Tsongas acknowledged and sought to overcome by pledging to listen and learn from South Dakota residents. The ad also criticized Tsongas’ call for a gasoline tax to help cut the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

Exit polling of voters conducted for the four major television networks found that health care--the issue that has been the centerpiece of Kerrey’s campaign but up to now has not connected with voters--gave Kerrey a crucial advantage. It was cited as a decisive issue by about a third of Democratic voters and of those, 40% supported Kerrey.

The polling also identified a continuing worry for Clinton, whose campaign was hampered during the past month by unsubstantiated charges of adultery and questions about his Vietnam War-era draft status. The polling found that three out of 10 Democratic voters said they were “not satisfied” that Clinton had the honesty and integrity to serve as President.

The Republican campaign in South Dakota was virtually nonexistent until this weekend when Bush campaign workers based in Washington launched a phone-bank effort, calling voters to urge them to support the President.

White House spokesman Gary Foster, traveling with Bush as he visited San Francisco and Los Angeles on Tuesday, sought to put the best face on the South Dakota results. “The President is still batting 1.000,” Foster said. “He’s won everything and will win everything.”

But Greg Mueller, Buchanan’s press secretary, ballyhooed the size of the uncommitted vote. “That’s our vote, even without a campaign. That’s unbelievable. It’s such a vote of no confidence” in Bush, he said.

More bad news for Bush surfaced in the exit polling of voters. Nearly two-thirds of those Republicans who cast their ballots for the uncommitted slate said that as of now, they would not vote for Bush in the November general election.

Among the five major Democratic candidates, Kerrey becomes the third winner in the three contests that have been definitely decided. In each case, regionalism played a major factor--along with Tsongas winning in New Hampshire, Harkin won the caucuses in his home state of Iowa.

In the fourth state that has voted--Maine--results are still being tallied from Sunday’s caucuses; Tsongas currently holds a slim lead over Brown.

Kerrey heads to the South today for campaign events in Georgia and Florida, where staff members acknowledges that they are getting a late start because of the focus on South Dakota.

Irvine’s Agran is scheduled to return home to Orange County today to try to add to his campaign treasury, said Cynthia Strom, South Dakota campaign spokeswoman.

After getting a minuscule 332 votes in New Hampshire, Agran’s campaign had said it must do well in South Dakota--scoring as much as 10% of the vote--to justify its claim as a credible organization.

Agran had gone to South Dakota with his best shot so far. In addition to appearing in Sunday’s televised debate, he has been endorsed by a South Dakota newspaper for American Indians, and he is backed by many supporters of his ally, former South Dakota Sen. George McGovern.

Strom blamed the 1% vote Tuesday on Democratic officials who, she said, have sought to keep the focus on nationally known contenders and have effectively ignored his campaign.

“You cannot make the kind of impact that will change the vote, when you’re denied access to the public,” Strom said Monday night.

“But, we really feel that his message is resonating with a lot of people and he is determined to continue on and to continue his message,” Strom added.

In the South Dakota campaign, the dominance of agricultural issues generated a discussion of issues that had not surfaced during the months of campaigning in recession-racked New Hampshire. It also led several of the candidates to stress their rural ties--something they sought to accomplish by posing with farm animals, riding horses and eating South Dakota beef.

“I understand the West,” Harkin told an audience Monday at a campaign stop in Rapid City.

“I’m home,” said Kerrey, stepping down from a horse named Country Boy on Monday.

Harkin sought to distinguish himself from Kerrey as the better friend of farmers by focusing mainly on two issues--trade and ethanol production.

The two candidates were split on a proposed free trade agreement with Mexico, each arguing that their position was more favorable for agriculture.

Harkin has stressed his opposition to the proposed agreement, arguing it could mean jobs--including those at a Sioux Falls meat processing plant--might be moved out of the country by companies in search of lower-wage employees and fewer regulations.

But Kerrey countered that American companies are already moving factories and plants to Mexico and that a free trade agreement could stimulate the local economy by opening new markets for agricultural products.

Harkin also made a point during campaign stops to display a computer component for automobile engines that would allow cars to run on fuel made mostly from ethanol, which is derived from Midwest crops.

The Iowa senator attacked Kerrey for a vote he cast in Congress that Harkin charged worked against ethanol production. But an angry Kerrey accused Harkin of misrepresenting his position.

Times staff writers Cathleen Decker, Michael Ross and Douglas Jehl contributed to this story.

The Vote in South Dakota

DEMOCRATS: 100% of precincts reporting

Dele- Vote % gates Bob Kerrey 23,974 40 7 Tom Harkin 15,153 25 5 Bill Clinton 11,421 19 3 Paul E. Tsongas 5,756 10 0 Jerry Brown 2,304 4 0 Larry Agran 607 1 0 REPUBLICANS 100% of precincts reporting Dele- Vote % gates George Bush 30,948 69 14 Uncommitted 13,716 31 5

Source: Times staff and wire reports