Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Kerry wins Virginia and Tennessee BY RON FOURNIER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - John Kerry vanquished his Dixie-bred rivals in Virginia and Tennessee on Tuesday, all but unstoppable in his march toward the Democratic nomination with a Southern sweep that extended his dominance to ev ery region of the country. “Americans are voting for change — East and West, North and now in the South,” Kerry de clared to the roar of supporters in ) Fairfax, Va. John Edwards, Wesley Clark and Howard Dean clung quixoti cally to the hope that Kerry would stumble on his own or by scandal, but party leaders began pressing for the nomination fight to end. Kerry was pocketing about half the vote in Virginia — with Edwards of North Carolina a poor second and Clark of Arkansas a far-distant third. Kerry easily beat Edwards and Clark in Tennessee. With two poor finishes, Clark’s fate seems sealed. He considered dropping out last week after ek ing out a lone victory in Oklahoma, and aides said similar discussions were under way Tuesday night. Dean had already retreated with his staggering campaign to Wisconsin, site of a Feb. 17 primary. With the enormous victories, Kerry expanded his primary-sea son dominance to the last region on his political scorecard. He has won 12 of 14 contests — seven by nearly half the vote — on the East and West coasts, in the Midwest, the Great Plains and the Southwest. “I think Democrats need to uni fy behind John Kerry and refocus on winning in November,” said former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta. Voters in the two states, like those in most of the first dozen contests, said the ability to defeat President Bush was the top quali ty they sought in a candidate — and they sided 6-to-l with Kerry, according to exit polls. Bush's poll ratings have dropped amid questions about his use of U.S. intelligence in deciding to go to war in Iraq. Kerry said it's not up to him to decide whether his foes should stay in the race. Still, his every strategy was designed to dispatch his rivals with Tuesday's tri umphs, victory next week in Wisconsin or a nail-in-the-coffin showing March 2, when 10 dele gate-rich states hold elections. With 92 percent of the vote in Virginia, Kerry had 51 percent, Edwards 27 percent, Clark 9 per cent, Dean 7 percent, A1 Sharpton 3 percent and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio 1 percent. In Tennessee, with 30 percent reporting, Kerry had 40 percent, Clark 25 percent, Edwards 24 percent, Dean 5 per cent, Sharpton 2 percent. Virginia and Tennessee had 151 delegates at stake. Production cut could keep gas prices high BY BRUCE STANLEY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ALGIERS, ALGERIA - OPEC de cided Tuesday to cut its excess pro duction of crude immediately and lower output quotas by 1 million barrels a day effective April 1—a surprise move that could mean ^ prices for gasoline and oil will re f main high. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries expects the combined cuts would reduce actu al production by about 10 percent, or 2.5 million barrels a day. OPEC agreed to the two-stage reduction in output to try to keep oil prices stable when warmer weather erodes demand in major importing countries. The oil group has often urged its members to comply better with their agreed quotas, but its deci sion to make an additional cut in its official target of 24.5 million barrels was unexpected. “As time goes on in the second quarter, we will see a drop in de mand that will affect prices. If we don't do anything, there will be M oversupply in the second quarter ¥ of about 3 million barrels (a day),” OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters at a government-run convention cen ter in Algiers. Ministers said they believed their action would send a strong signal about OPEC's willingness to be proactive in managing crude supplies. “Everybody will know that the organization is serious, and we would like to have a stable mar ket,” said Libya's representative, Abdulhafid Mahmoud Zlitni. The planned April cut in OPEC's formal output is unconditional, added Obaid Al-Nasseri, oil minis ter for the United Arab Emirates. North Sea Brent crude for March delivery was up 69 cents at $29.80 in London, while March contracts for light sweet U.S. crude were up 60 cents at $33.43 in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. OPEC's emphasis on the need to curb over-production was “a sign of some discipline” that should, by itself, help keep crude prices firm in the short term, said John Waterlow, an analyst with Wood Mackenzie Consultants in Edinburgh, Scotland. The April cut in production would bite deeper into consumers' wallets, said Jan Stuart of FIMAT USA, a New York brokerage. “What this means is that con sumers are going to carry on pay ing loads of money for their gaso line for quite some time,” he said. OPEC is still smarting after its 1997 agreement to boost produc tion just before an Asian financial crisis that sent oil prices plum meting to $10 a barrel. The group has tried recently to take pre-emp tive steps to prevent another such price collapse. In September, it de fied predictions of an unchanged. production target by announcing a 900,000-barrel cut in its output ceil ing. OPEC pumps about a third of the world's oil, and its members are currently producing about 1.5 million barrels a day above their output ceiling. When OPEC last met in December, several oil ministers predicted making cuts in their out put target at this meeting to pre vent oil prices from falling as a re sult of the end of winter in the northern hemisphere and a re duced demand for fuel. A recovering U.S. economy and vigorous growth in China have boosted demand more than many had anticipated. S' PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS U.S. Sen. John Kerry , D-Mass., celebrates with his wife Teresa during a victory party at George Mason University In Fairfax, Va. 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