Presidential Elections 1992 New Hampshire

The morning after he blistered his Democratic presidential opponents in a televised debate, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin tried to harness momentum Monday by delivering a new round of gibes at apparent front-runner Bill Clinton. Before an empty storefront meant to symbolize the economic peril faced by New Hampshire and the nation, Harkin accused the Arkansas governor of favoring the rich over the poor at home. "Gov. Clinton bought into Reaganomics in Arkansas. He did what Reagan did to this country.

President Bush won the hearts of the nation's first voters in the presidential election, capturing 15 of tiny Dixville Notch's 30 votes. Ross Perot picked up eight votes; five chose Libertarian Andre Marrou, and Democrat Bill Clinton got two votes. Residents of the northern New Hampshire town have been voting in the Ballot Room at the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel just after midnight since 1960.

RECORD VOTE: The New Hampshire primary drew a record turnout for that state, and some political analysts see that as a harbinger of a reversal of the trend to declining voter turnout in recent elections nationwide. Poor economic conditions tend to draw voters to the polls, these analysts noted. Overall, 40.8% of New Hampshire's 852,000 voting-age residents cast ballots in this year's primary, compared with 33% who voted in the primary contest of 1988.

ENDANGERED TRADITION: If Tuesday's vote culminates in the election of Democrat Bill Clinton, more than just 12 years of Republican rule will come to an end. Also swept away will be one of the guideposts of contemporary political punditry. . . . Since 1952, every candidate who went on to the White House first won his party's New Hampshire primary, a heritage that has helped the contest achieve near-legendary importance.

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who not long ago seemed to be coasting toward victory in the New Hampshire primary, is now in serious trouble. As a result the stakes for him in Tuesday's vote are higher than ever. "Winning would be an extraordinary personal vindication," said Clinton pollster Stan Greenberg, because it could be interpreted as voters repudiating rumors and allegations about Clinton's character and fidelity.

At the house party in Dan Callaghan's living room, Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska had delivered 20 well-chosen minutes on his vision for America when he suddenly excused himself. He had to do a "live interview" on the front lawn, he explained, for the local Manchester television station's 6 o'clock news. But don't leave, an aide told the house party guests. Move into the den and watch the senator on the television set.

President Bush, feisty but fighting fatigue, and Patrick J. Buchanan, just plain feisty, sparred with sharpened rhetoric across the dreary and rain-splattered landscape of southern New Hampshire on Sunday to pursue the last undecided voters in Tuesday's crucial Republican primary election. With little time left, tempers were fraying and the candidates were snapping ever more pointedly, both camps accusing the other of late-in-the-game desperation.

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin was halfway through a routine afternoon of handshaking with voters when a woman asked him how government should handle fathers who fail to pay child support. "I've learned a lot about that issue from my wife," Harkin said, gesturing to Ruth Harkin, who stood next to him. "Ruth used to be a county attorney back in Iowa and went after a lot of those guys and put some of them in jail.

Two weeks ago, Scott MacHardy, a 25-year-old small business owner in Dover, wasn't sure whether to support former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas or Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in Tuesday's Democratic primary. Now, he's decided that all the accusations against Clinton have left him too weak to carry the Democratic banner against President Bush. "The whole situation is just getting a little bit out of hand, and I'm not sure if he's electable anymore," said MacHardy.

It is the weekend before the New Hampshire presidential primary and here is George Bush, scrapping for every vote he can get. In a small, drafty airplane hangar, not even half-filled, he tells potential voters, almost pleadingly: "I'm in a tough race, but I've been in tough races before. The stakes are high. I need your help and I'm asking for your support."

For all the complaints about the influence of money on politics, Tuesday's New Hampshire primary vividly showed that commiting huge amounts of cash to television advertising does not always translate into votes. Here are estimates of what the major presidential candidates spent on TV ads and how much it cost them per vote: DEMOCRATS Name Total Per vote Tsongas $290,000 $5.22 Clinton $715,000 $17.22 Kerrey $850,000 $45.76 Harkin $600,000 $35.18 Brown $50,000 $3.

This exit poll by The Times profiles various groups of voters in New Hampshire. It is based on 3,195 interviews with New Hampshire Democratic primary voters and 2,700 Republican primary voters at 60 polling places across the state. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 4 percentage points. The error margin for subgroups may be somewhat higher.

The official tally Wednesday for New Hampshire's Republican primary showed a large write-in vote shrinking Patrick J. Buchanan's election showing to 37% of the total, rather than the 40% that was widely reported Tuesday night. The official state tally also dropped President Bush's share to 52.9%, from the reported 58%, and narrowed the margin between the two. The count, released by the office of the New Hampshire secretary of state, showed that 7.

"This isn't a wake-up call," one adviser to President Bush's reelection campaign said Tuesday, describing the results of the New Hampshire GOP primary. "It's a 2-by-4 across the front of the face and head. It's a sledgehammer." Bush's campaign team, clearly shaken by conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan's strength in New Hampshire, scrambled Tuesday to devise a new strategy that would help repair the damage.

Former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., calling himself the "voice of the voiceless," said his showing in New Hampshire's Democratic primary Tuesday "demonstrates that the people themselves are going to make up their own mind" about the presidential race, no matter what the Washington Establishment, political fund-raisers or the media might want. Brown was running stronger than virtually any member of his party's Establishment had expected.

Thousands of marchers protested President Bush's policies on Haitian refugees and AIDS funding in demonstrations Saturday, and angry AIDS activists shattered a storefront window at Bush's state campaign headquarters. More than 2,000 Haitians and supporters who arrived in buses from Boston and New York marched through downtown Manchester to Bush-Quayle campaign headquarters. The office was closed.

Former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, who made up in dogged determination whatever he lacked in charisma and funds, won the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary Tuesday night, casting a cloud of uncertainty over the contest for the nomination. With the bulk of the precincts reporting, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was second, with 26% to Tsongas' 34%.