Nation & World News
Kerry claims wins
in both Virginia
and Tennessee
The front-runner decisively
swept both states, beating
rivals on their home turf
By Steven Thomma
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
FAIRFAX STATION, Va. — Sen.
John Kerry of Massachusetts swept
primaries in Virginia and Tennessee
on Tuesday, decisively defeating two
Southern rivals near their home turf
and all but assuring that he will be
the Democratic Party's nominee for
president.
Kerry won easily in Virginia, taking
about 50 percent of the vote, followed
by Sen. John Edwards of North Car
olina with 26 percent and retired
Army Gen. Wesley Clark of Arkansas
with 9 percent.
Kerry was also declared the deci
sive winner in Tennessee by the tele
vision networks as soon as polls
closed at 8 p.m. EST, based on exit
polls of voters there.
Kerry's victories, his first in the
South, gave him a new jolt of mo
mentum as he heads into a show
down next week in Wisconsin that
could make him the acknowledged
nominee of his party.
He enters the coming week having
won five states in four days and 12
of the 14 that have voted thus far.
With Tuesday's wins, he has shown
political strength in every region of
the country and among Democrats
from all demographic, economic
and racial groups.
More importantly, he approaches
next Tuesday's Wisconsin primary
without any clear threat to his nomi
nation.
Clark was teetering on the edge of
political collapse Tuesday evening,
and Edwards lost back-to-back in the
region that he boasted was his "back
yard." Former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean, winless in 14 states, didn't even
contest Virginia or Tennessee and is
hoping for a comeback in Wisconsin
that shows no signs of materializing.
"Once again the message rings out
loud and clear," Kerry told supporters
in Fairfax, Virginia. "Americans are
voting for change, East, West, North
and now in the South."
With the nomination virtually
within his grasp, Kerry focused on
President Bush rather than Democrat
ic rivals as he ticked off states vital to a
fall election victory.
"From Missouri to Wisconsin to
Ohio, from the heartland to both
coasts, the wreckage of the Bush econ
omy is all around us," Kerry said. "To
all of America we say tonight, get
ready, a new day is on the way."
Kerry picked up the majority of the
151 delegates awarded Tuesday, end
ing the day with a total of484. That's
about 22 percent of the 2,161 needed
to secure the nomination.
Through Tuesday, Dean had 182
delegates, Edwards had 146, Clark
had 84, the Rev. A1 Sharpton of New
York had 12, and Rep. Dennis
Kucinich of Ohio had 2.
Though it will take several more
weeks of voting for Kerry to clinch
the nomination mathematically,
Tuesday's voting confirmed that De
mocrats around the country are
largely ratifying the choice made in
the first two states to vote, Iowa and
New Hampshire.
And with an accelerated primary
calendar set up by the party to wrap
up the nomination quickly, voters in
late-voting states could be left without
a voice in the process..- . . . -
"Kerry is in like Flint," said Larry
Sabato, director of the Center for Poli
tics at the University of Virginia. "He
can get started on a very tough cam
paign in the fall."
Sabato said Clark was "obliterated"
with his distant third-place Finishes.
He also said Edwards "is out, too.
When you get beat 2 to 1 in two states
next to yours by a Massachusetts lib
eral and you're the Southern candi
date, it's impossible to defend."
Kerry won strong support Tuesday
among all types of voters and on all
types of issues. He won just less than
half of the white vote in Virginia and
nearly two-thirds of the black vote.
He also led his rivals regardless of
whether voters said their top concerns
were jobs, health care, Iraq or overall
experience.
And he built a large lead among
those Democrats who said the main
quality they looked for in candidates
was the ability to defeat President
Bush. Among those voters in Virginia,
3 out of 4 voted for Kerry, according
to exit polls. Among those voters in
Tennessee, Kerry edged Edwards by a
margin of nearly 2-1 and Clark by a
slightly larger margin.
Aides speculated that Clark could
quit the race as early as Wednesday.
He had considered quitting last week
until his narrow victory in Oklahoma
kept his hopes alive. Since then, Clark
had poured most of his effort into
Tennessee, trying for another win
close to his home state of Arkansas.
Yet Clark never gave voters a com
pelling reason to back his late-starting
campaign. On issues such as war and
taxes, he resembled Kerry and Ed
wards. And on his claim that his
record in uniform made him unique
ly suited to lead a war on terrorism,
voters seemed to prefer Kerry's record
as a Vietnam War hero. Among veter
ans in Tennessee, 58 percent voted for
Kerry, 23 percent voted for Edwards
and 11 percent voted for Clark, ac
cording to exit polls.
As the disappointing vote totals
came in, Clark's senior staff traveled
from their headquarters in Little
Rock, Ark., to meet with him in
Memphis, Tenn.
Edwards, whose one victory came
in South Carolina a week earlier,
vowed to stay in the race despite his
losses Tuesday.
He flew to Milwaukee on Tuesday
night to get a quick start courting Wis
consin voters. His aides speculated
that Clark would withdraw, leaving
Edwards alone to challenge Kerry —
but they didn't include Dean in their
political calculus.
"With a narrower field, we'll get to
Wisconsin, where we'll be better able
to distinguish ourselves," said David
Axelrod, an aide to Edwards. "We've
always viewed this as kind of an elim
ination tournament. The field win
nows down and then you'll get down
to a final two. We anticipate being one
of those final two."
He called Kerry's momentum
"pretty impressive." But he said Ker
ry would be slowed as the field of
candidates narrows and voters have
fewer choices.
(c) 2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services. Knight Ridder
Newspapers correspondents James
Kuhnhenn of Knight Ridder’s
Washington bureau with Kerry in
Virginia; Tim Funk of The Charlotte
Observer with Edwards in Virginia; and
Dana Hull of the San Jose Mercury News
with Clark in Tennessee
contributed to this report.
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