Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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PageA4 TCht (BamECOCh Wednesday, Januaby 26,2000 Bush, Gore win Iowa caucuses l ^ by Mike Glover Associated Press Hudson, N.H. — Fresh from victo ries in the first voting of the 2000 presi dential campaign. Democrat A1 Gore and Republican George W. Bush quickly turned their attention Tuesday to the con test in New Hampshire. “We’re not taking a single vote for granted,” Gore told noisy supporters at a Manchester rally as the candidates spread over the state. In the caucuses Monday night, Gore piled up a yawning gap over rival Bill Bradley, and Bush faced stiff com petition from second-place finisher Steve Forbes. A new poll showed John McCain, who skipped the Iowa caucuses, leading Bush in New Hampshire and Gore and Bradley tied in the Democratic race. “Yesterday was ‘Thank you, Iowa.’ Today is ‘Wfe’re ready, New Hampshire,”’ Bush said early Tuesday morning after an overnight flight to Manchester, N.H. Lat-. er, he told CBS’ “Early Show” that Forbes “deserves credit for a strong second.” “I, however, had a strong first,” Bush said. An exuberant Gore, also on CBS, said Tuesday the competition from Bradley “is great. It’s put wind in my sails and made it easier for me to get my keel deep er in the water, so to speak.” On the Republican side, with more than 97 percent of the state’s 2,142 precincts reporting, Bush had 41 percent of the vote while Forbes had 30 percent. Conservative Alan Keyes had a solid third place showing with 14 percent. “Last night was a triumph of authentic conservative principles,” Forbes said Tues day, predicting a “dramatic three-way race” with Bush and John McCain in New Hampshire. “The Republican establish ment has met its match.” A party leader, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, said Iowa was Forbes' “high water marie. He’ll go down, hopefully fast, from there.” Forbes has staked out more conserv ative positions since his 1996 loss, par ticularly on abortion, but the McCain camp believes that won’t play as well in New Hampshire, where independent vot ers are a more important factor. A Quinnipiac College poll, conduct ed before the caucuses last Tuesday through Sunday, found people likely to vote in the Republican primary favored McCain over Bush, 39 percent to 28 per cent; Forbes trailed at 9 percent. The mar gin of error was 4.5 percentage points; 498 voters were surveyed. The abortion issue came up for his ri val McCain again Tuesday. Asked whether he would favor changing the abortion ban in the Republican platform to favor al lowing abortion in cases of rape or incest or to save the mother’s life, McCain said, “I would support the change.” “That is the position of Henry Hyde, who is a leader of the pro-life movement, ” McCain told reporters before a town hall meeting in Sunapee, N.H. He declined to say whether he would actively seek such a change. Arizona Sen. McCain, who has fo cused on reforming campaign fund-rais ing, also said he felt vindicated by the Supreme Court decision upholding lim its on political contributions. “This is what the whole campaign was about, is about,” McCain said. Trailing the top three was Washing ton activist Gary Bauer at 9 percent. Mc Cain, who skipped Iowa to focus on New Hampshire, pulled 5 percent of the vote. Bauer admitted disappointment but said Forbes didn’t emeige with enough votes to become the conservative favorite. “I still think people are looking for some body to touch their hearts and I think we’re still in the competition,” Bauer said over breakfast with the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce. Among Democrats, with 98 per cent of the 2,131 precincts reporting, Gore had piled up a commanding 63-35 lead over Bradley after a tough caucus campaign and was hoping for a bump heading into New Hampshire. With only 47 Democratic and 25 Re publican delegates at stake in Monday’s caucuses, the real prize was momentum for New Hampshire primaries Feb. 1. Gore claimed that momentum, and said his win was sweeter because Bradley had poured millions of dollars and hours of time into the hotly contested state. “Senator Bradley spent far more mon ey and ran far more TV ads than any can didate in the history of the Iowa cau lOWA SEE PAGE A5 After last-place showing; Hatch to quit race by Matt Kelley Associated Press Washington—A last-place finish in the Iowa caucuses persuaded Onin Hatch to drop out of the Republican presi dential race. The Utah senator had hoped to cap italize on his political experience, re peatedly stressing liis record as a four term senator and chairman of the committee overseeing judiciaTap pointments. But few voters were in terested. Hatch, who received just 1 percent of the Iowa votes, planned to announce his decision at a news conference today in the hearing room of the Senate Judi ciary Committee. He left Iowa without making a pub lic appearance and before all the votes were counted Monday night. He had planned to hold a news conference Tues day in Washington, but a snowstorm par alyzed the city and delayed his an nouncement. “He’s not taking any calls. We’re even having trouble getting him on the phone," spokesman Paul Smith said. Hatch jumped into the GOP race only last summer, months or years af ter some other contenders were actively building their campaigns. He asked for one million donors to give him $36 each to raise $36 million, but received only about $2.5 million from 15,000 con tributors. He had hoped lus Senate experience would help him in the race. “All these other (GOP candi dates) are making grandiose promises, but three of them have never been elect ed to anything,” Hatch said last week, referring to fellow conservatives Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes and Gary Bauer. “They have no clue how to work with Congress.” Forbes came in second in Iowa to George W. Bush, and Keyes finished third. Bauer, who was fourth with 9 per cent of tire votes, continued campaign ing Tuesday in New Hampshire, site of next week’s first-in-the-nation prima ry. He said of Hatch: “I can’t say I’m too sad to see him go since I want every one to go but me. But he’s a good man and I’m glad he was there.” Iowa State University political sci ence professor Steffen Schmidt said Hatch’s message never caught on with Iowa voters. “The fact that he’s had a lot of ex perience in the Senate wasn’t really that exciting or enough to make people want to switch over to him,” Schmidt said. Russians face strong resistance in Grozny by Yuri Bagrov Associated Press Gudermes, Russia—Chechen rebels in Grozny fought fe rociously Tuesday to prevent Russian forces from capturing a key square as federal commanders admitted their drive to take the center of the capital still faced strong resistance. Both Russian and Chechen commanders reported intensi fied fighting around Minutka Square, where the Russian ad vance on the city center has been stalled for days. The square is near a key Russian-held bridge across the Sunzha River that bisects Grozny. Aslanbek Ismailov, the rebel commander in Grozny, said that in some districts of the Chechen capital his fighters had switched from trying to hold on to fixed positions to hit-and run attacks, striking Russian troops from the rear. The Russians claim to control most of Grozny, although troops are often taking city blocks by day only to abandon them at night in fear of rebel ambushes. Despite claims of steady progress, the Russians still appear far from occupying the city or defeating the rebel garrison after months of fighting. Russian officials conceded today that the federal forces were having trouble overcoming the agile rebels, who are operating in bands of no more than 15 fighters and are moving about the city frequently, the Interfax news agency reported. Alexander Sapronov, a military spokesman, said that the Russian forces had advanced about 550 yards toward Minutka Square on Monday. And the federal forces claimed to have prevented some 150 militants from breaking through from the northeast Lenin neighborhood of Grozny toward Minutka Square on Monday night. Up to 30 of the rebels were killed, the military claimed. A top Russian officer, Col. Gen. Anatoly Kvashnin, said the strategy for taking Grozny “is developing according to plan, even if it is not without some difficulties,” the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. The Russian military estimates that some 2,500 rebels re main in Grozny, while more than 6,000 are believed to be operating out of the rugged southern mountains. The Russian air force sharply increased its airstrikes against rebels, flying more than 250 combat missions on Monday. More than 30 fortified rebel emplacements, two mobile communi cation centers, one training camp, four air defense installations and seven mortar crews were destroyed, and 100 rebels were killed, the military claimed Tuesday. Clinton to propose paying down debt by Alan Fram Associated Press Washington — President Clinton said today he will propose a budget plan next month to pay off the government’s $3.6 trillion publicly held debt by 2013, two years sooner than expected He urged Re publican leaders: “Put politics aside and join me.” \ Meantime, the Congressional Bud get Office has upped the stakes in this year’s budget battle by projecting a huge surplus of up to $ 1.9 trillion over the next decade, according to a congressional aide speaking on condition of anonymity. Clinton, citing a combination of the prosperous economy and his fiscal poli cies, said the debt is $1.7 trillion lower than it was projected to be when he took office seven years ago. He said his pro posal would devote interest savings to Social Security, extending its solvency beyond 2050, and his plan also would seek to ensure Medicare’s survival until at least 2025. “Now is not the time to let up on a strategy that is plainly working,” he said. “Our children and their children will not inherit the crippling burden of interests payments that we faced seven years ago.” Clinton said his plan would mean the United States would become debt-free for the first time since 1835, when there were only 24 states and 15 million citi zens. He said it is important that politi cal leaders in both parties commit to using the budget surpluses to pay down the debt. What we’re doing by taking this po sition is maximizing the choices the next president and the next Congress will have,” Clinton said. “I ask the Republi can majority in Congress to put politics aside and join me.” The administration’s claim of mak ing the government debt-free covers on ly the two-thirds of the $5.7 trillion na tional debt that is held by the public in the form of Treasury bonds and bills. The Clinton program does not deal with the other $2 trillion of government debt which is held by the government’s trust funds, primarily Social Security. CBO’s new surplus projections are nearly twice the $ 1 trillion estimate that CBO made just last July. They mean that there will be that much more on the table for Clinton and Congress to consider as they battle over using the money for tax cuts, higher spending or reducing the na tional debt. It will also affect the debate on the presidential campaign trail, where con tenders’ proposals have included calls for tax cuts, expanding federal health care aid and reducing the national debt. Congressional Republicans also are talking more about using the massive rev enues coming into the Treasury to elim inate the publicly held federal debt rather than try again for a massive tax cut sim ilar to the one vetoed by Clinton last year. When asked whether he believes there should be a tax cut this year, Clinton said tax cuts are possible if they are modest, targeted and within the confines of fiscal discipline. “But I do not believe we should have very big tax cuts that will explode in the second five years of a 10-year period and ignore what the real needs of the coun try will be,” Clinton said “Those things are easy to do, but they are difficult to undo if times get tough.” Clinton’s debt proposal comes amid an election-year battle between Democrats and Republicans over how much black ink there will be. That battle was touched off by an unusual decision by Congress’ top budget analyst to produce three sep arate surplus estimates. Dan Crippen, director of the non partisan Congressional Budget Office, is expected to release three surplus pro jections for the coming decade on Wednes day. The figure Congress ultimately choos es will determine how much money is available for tax cuts, spending increas es and debt reduction. Debt see page as News Briefs ■ Jesse Jackson asks NFL players to protest Georgia flag ATLANTA (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jack son called on the players in next week’s Super Bowl to wear the American flag on their helmets to protest the Confed erate battle flag contained within Geor gia’s state banner. “As we approach the Super Bowl game, we’re in the awkward and dis graceful position of playing the Super Bowl game — the most watched event in America — under the Confederate flag,” Jackson said Monday in a telephone interview from Chicago, the headquar ters of his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. However, the National Football League will not allow players to alter their uniforms during Sunday’s game in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. “While we understand the con cerns raised by this issue, we are not a political advocacy group,” NFL spokesman Joe Browne said. “We are a football league in Atlanta to play our championship game, and our rules pro hibit the wearing of any item on game day related to political causes or activi ties.” ■ Consumer confidence soars New York (AP) — Consumer confi dence soared in January to the highest level recorded since the index began in the 1960s. “People looking for confirmation that the consumer confidence bubble will soon burst have a further wait in store,” said Lynn Franco, research director for the Conference Board, which reported the measurement Tuesday. The confidence index, a key indica tor measuring the force behind the econ omy’s long expansion, rose to 144.7 in January, up from 141.7 in December. It was the highest level in the 32 years that the business-financed research group has been keeping the measurement. The per formance was stronger than expected. Consumer sentiment is closely watched by economists since spending by consumers makes up about two-thirds of the nation’s overall economic activi ty. “Consumers have every reason to be optimistic. There is just nothing going wrong,” said Mark Zandi, an economist at Regional Financial Associates in Wfest Chester, Pa. ■ Waitress gives 4-year-old whiskey Marlboro, Mass. (AP)—Four-year old Amanda Gustafson knew immedi ately there was something “yucky” about her apple juice. She was right: It wasn’t juice. It was whiskey. A waitress at TGI Friday’s served the girl the booze during a recent family din ner. Ron Gustafson claims his daughter began “acting silly” and later complained of a headache after sipping the drink. “This tastes yucky, daddy,” the girl told him after taking a swig. Friday’s spokeswoman Amy Fresh water said a waitress mistakenly picked up a cup of what she thought was apple juice. The restaurant chain now is re viewing its policies to ensure such a mis take never happens again. “It was a very unfortunate mistake,” Freshwater said. 0 . 0 - Corner of Gervais St. J 4 4 Q and Gadsden o 0 Across from Jillians o o Gets you: 715 Gervais St. § $ 799-2020 o | , o jj *an eye exam & 0 o *2 six packs of disposables 0 0 0^ Dr. C. Earl Loftis Jr. § 0 *an eye exam & Office hours: M-Th 9am-6pm 0 g * 1 pair of daily wear lenses Fri. 9am-4pm | Need Some Cash? Help Sera Tec Help Others by Donating Life Saving Plasma New donors or anyone who has not donated in 6 months can earn. $40 - Second Donation Regular donors can earn $40 _per calendar week._ No appointment necessary Bring I.D. with Date of Birth and Student I.D. SERA TEC BIOLOGICALS (formerly Bayer Plasma Center) 254-6684 1916 Taylor St. M, W, F 7:30AM - 4:00PM • T, TH 7:30AM - 5:00PM II I II I)