Clinton Clinches a Solid Win in Georgia : Election: He hints of a tough fight in the weeks ahead. The returns dispel the dread of a Tsongas double-header.

At his election night celebration here Tuesday, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton could sense redemption. After weeks spent laboring under the weight of controversy, his much-touted--then much-derided--candidacy finally had seen victory.

“I hope you’re about half as happy as I am tonight,” he told several hundred supporters gathered in the Miami port building, his voice raw from overuse.

Clinton did not directly refer to the allegations of womanizing and draft avoidance that had threatened to destroy his campaign in New Hampshire only a month before, but they were everywhere in his words.

He thanked the voters in three of the primary states that were up for grabs Tuesday--Georgia, where he won strongly; Maryland, where he lost to former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas; and Colorado, where he, Tsongas and former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. were locked in a close contest.

Then he added more thanks “to all the people in this country who have stayed with me and given me a chance to carry this fight on.”

“We finally got the message across in Georgia,” he said, clearly drawing a distinction from the campaign in New Hampshire, where he tumbled from front-runner to finish second two weeks before, as his focus on economic issues was lost amid discussions about his character.

Engaging in enthusiastic hyperbole, Clinton later called the Georgia victory one of “really staggering proportions.”

Actually, he had been expected to win easily the first primary in his native South; anything less than an impressive margin would have raised more questions about his candidacy than it answered.

Clinton, however, had tried his best to characterize Georgia’s red soil as neutral turf.

“Atlanta is 500 miles from Arkansas, one of the most sophisticated places in America. . . . You have to forgive me if I don’t think it’s the same thing as being four miles from New Hampshire or a $10 cab ride from Maine,” he said, apparently referring to Tsongas’ earlier primary successes in states near his native Massachusetts.

Although victory had been expected, nervous Clinton aides were buoyed by his margin in Georgia and a strong showing in Colorado. A major fear in recent days--that Tsongas would eclipse a Clinton victory in Georgia by taking both Maryland and Colorado--seemed to vanish as returns came in.

Clinton was not wholly magnanimous in victory. He could not resist taking a few snipes at Tsongas. In a sign of the hard-nosed campaigning to come, Clinton set his sights on his rival’s support of a capital gains tax cut and his proposal that corporate regulations be loosened.

“I don’t want any more across-the-board tax cuts on capital gains and less accountability for the people who were not accountable in the ‘80s,” Clinton said. “That’s a recipe for disaster.”

He also touted his own plan for a middle-income tax cut.

“Don’t let people tell you it’s bad for the economy if you try to restore the middle class. How are you going to reduce poverty if there’s no middle class to move into?” he said.

“Don’t let people tell you we’re waging class warfare. Class warfare is what we had in the ‘80s, when middle-class people worked harder for less money.”

Even before the results came in Tuesday night, Clinton had sought to shift focus toward next week’s Super Tuesday primaries or caucuses in 11 states, including Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee.

While the South is his stronghold and Tuesday’s convincing victory in Georgia certainly reinforced him there, Clinton’s forces were preparing for a rough fight with an increasingly aggressive Tsongas.