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Candidates Dreoare for Iowa vote by Ron Fournier Associated Press i Des Moines, Iowa — On the eve of Iowa’s cau cuses, Republican and Democratic presidential can didates canvassed churches and national talk shows Sunday, scouring this snow-cmsted state for last-minute support even as they began looking ahead to contests in New Hampshire and beyond. “This is the first step in several steps of the jour ney,” Bill Bradley, the former New Jersey senator who trails Vice President A1 Gore in Democratic polls, said on CBS. Entering the first election contest of Campaign 2000, Republican Geoige W. Bush and Gore held wide leads in polls of voters who planned to visit schools, civic clubs, fire stations and other sites to day to support one of eight major contestants. The underdog candidates, all resigned to losing, were shooting for face-saving finishes and Iowa’s ■ ■ true reward: momentum for New Hampshire’s Feb. 1 primary. “This is a marathon, not a sprint,” said Repubr lican Steve Forbes on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The footrace in Iowa, a test of political organi zation, favors the national front-runners. A Des Moines Sunday Register poll of 1,200 likely caucus goers showed Gore leading Bradley among De mocrats 56 percent to 28 percent. Bush led Forbes 43 percent to 20 percent in the Jan. 16-21 survey, which had an error margin of plus or minus 4 per centage points. Bradley is in danger of finishing worse than ex pected in a contest that traditionally punishes can didates who fail to meet expectations. His latest poll rating was beneath the intention ally low threshold his advisers set as a measure of accomplishment: The 31 percent showing by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass„ in a second-place finish behind then-President Jimmy Carter in the 1981 caucuses. With the rest of the GOP field in single digits Forbes has long said he is the conservative altema tive to Bush. The argument would carry greate weight if, after pouring millions of dollars into low; since his failed 1996 bid, Forbes fares better than th< new poll suggests — 23 points behind Bush. The polls show that about one in 10 voters ar< undecided, giving the candidates incentive to cam paign hard Sunday. “The only thing I know to do is to encourag; our folks to get out and vote. We need as big a vot< as possible,” Bush told reporters between campaigr stops. In a lengthy interview with ABC, Bush strug gled with his explanation for supporting a sales tar increase in Texas after making a no-tax pledge The second-term governor said he had qualified th< ) promise by also pledging to reform education fund ing in the state, an effort that presumably led to , the tax proposal. Dismissing the issue. Bush said “There’s pledges • all the time” and reviewed a record as governor that l included two major tax cuts. i He also continued to flesh out his views abor tion, a critical issue to many GOP caucus-goers. ! Asked about the topic for the fourth day, he pre dicted that Texas would outlaw first-trimester abor tions if the Supreme Court reversed itself and let states impose strict anti-abortion laws—a position Bush says the court should take. Maintaining a caucus tradition, several campaigns had supporters papering churches and their parking lots with leaflets. Religious conservatives represent a third of likely caucus-goers and are more likely than most voters to attend the sessions. lowT SEE PAGE A5 Public relations team met within hours of Seton Hall dorm fire Associated Press Newark, N J. — Within hours of last week’s dormitory fire that killed three students and injured 62, Seton Hall’s pub lic relations team was holding strategy meetings to discuss preserving the uni versity’s reputation, according to a pub lished report. At least one public relations firm was contacted within 24 hours of the fire to prepare a plan to deflect charges that the university had been negligent in its fire safety training, the Siar-Ledger of Newark reported Sunday. Seton Hall officials said in a news re r lease that they hired a marketing com munications firm one day after the fire to poll colleges and universities about dorm sprinkler systems. The poll, which surveyed 3? colleges in seven states at random, showed 45 percent of campus dormitories were not equipped with sprin klers. Despite the public relations firm’s hiring, Seton Hall spokeswoman Lisa E. Grider told the newspaper it’s too soon to worry about the school’s image when five students remain hospitalized. “It’s too early for us to be thinking about that,” Grider said. The dorm where Wednesday’s fire started was built before laws required sprinklers in new campus dorms. Con gresswoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said Sunday she plans to introduce leg islation to require sprinklers be installed in all campus dorms. “You have to protect them where they are. We can’t count on them evac uating,” said Dan Jones, fire chief in Chapel Hill, N.C., who has led a na tional campaign to install sprinklers in campus housing since a 1996 fraternity fire killed five people at the University Fire SEE PAGE A5 Doctor carved initials into woman's abdomen BY VERENA DOBNIK Associated Press Hew York — A doctor delivered a baby by Caesarean section, then used his scalpel for the unkindest cut of all: He carved his initials into the moth er’s abdomen. Dr. Allan Zarkin — later dubbed “Dr. Zorro”by hospital staff members —- “felt very close to this woman, but something clicked on and off in his brain,” his lawyer, Kenneth Platzer, ... ■ * said Friday. Liana Gedz is now suing the 61 year-old obstetrician for $5 million, saying the 3-by-l 1/2-inch “A” aid “Z” “ makes me feel like a branded animal. ” According to the Daily News, wit nesses in the operating room said that after delivering Gedz’s daughter on Sept. 7, Zarkin announced: “I did such a beautify job, I’ll initial it." Zarkin’s lawyer said the doctor suf fers front a “frontal lobe disorder" called Pick’s disease — a progressive, form of Alzheimer s-Iike dementia char acterized by personality changes and inappropriate behavior. Platzer said his client is being treat ed by a psychiatrist and a neurologist. Gedz, a 31-year-old dentist, said the initials “were carved in such a man ner as to be permanent,” according to her lawsuit. “I felt like I was raped," she told the Daily News. .And now, with the scar that las turned into a welt, “I’m so em barrassed to get undressed in front of my husband because I have another man’s initials on my stomach.” News Briefs ■ Violence continues on Spice Islands Jakarta, Indonesia (AP)—Violence across Indonesia claimed at least 40 lives over the past few days, authorities and news reports said Sunday, as bloodshed continues to plague this sprawling South east Asian nation. Clashes between Muslims and Chris tians broke out in eastern Indonesia, leav ing dozens dead and destroying hundreds of homes. Associated Press Television News footage from the island of Haruku, 1,600 miles east of Jakarta, showed at least 24 bodies lying on the ground. Several ships could be seen arriving bringing in Christian fighters. No soldiers or police were present, and hundreds of houses and several churches in Haruku and Sameth, the island’s two main towns, were on fire. It was impossible to get a precise number of how many people died in the violence. Local military chief Brig. Gen. Max Tamaela said the fighting started after a Muslim mob attacked and burned a church on Sunday morning. ■ Study confirms link between baldness, heart disease Chicago (AP) — Men who are losing the hair on the crowns of their heads have up to a 36 percent greater risk of expe riencing heart problems, including heart attacks, a study found. Men with receding hairlines are not at increased risk, but those going bald at the crown should pay special attention | to their blood pressure and cholesterol levels and lead a healthy lifestyle, re searchers said. “It’s similar to having a family his tory for a disease. You can’t alter your family history or your baldness, but there are many ways to modify your risk fac tors,” Dr. JoAnn Manson said, one of the study’s authors and chief of preventative medicine at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Manson’s study, published in the Jan. 17 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that the greater the hair loss on the top of a man’s head, the greater the risk. Don’t miss the final student organization » TODAY, Monday, January 24 3:30 PM Russell House Room 315 SPORTS CLURS ONLY 5:30 PM Tuesday, January 25 3:30 PM Russell House Room 315 Wednesday, January 26 3:30 PM Russell House Room 315