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Dole easily

Pennsylvania primary

PHILADELPHIA: Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole won Pennsylvania's Republican presidential primary on Tuesday against a backdrop of questions by some Republicans this week as to whether Dole can beat President Bill Clinton in November.

Dole's victory further tightens his hold on the Republican presidential nomination which he wrapped up with primary victories March 26 in California, Nevada, and Washington.

But Dole faces an uphill general election battle against Clinton in Pennsylvania and the United States as a whole, which has led some Republicans to question the strength of his candidacy.

"There's very little enthusiasm about Bob Dole," former Education Secretary William Bennett said on Monday.

A statewide poll released on April 4 showed Clinton leading Dole by 51 percent to 34 percent in Pennsylvania, which has the fifth-largest number of votes in the presidential electoral college and has been an important swing state.

Nationally, a Los Angeles Times poll last week showed Clinton leading Dole 55 to 37 percent.

But speaking by phone to state Republican party headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Dole said he was confident of recovering lost ground.

"We're going to work hard and we think we're starting to close the gap in most of these states," Dole said.

"Clinton's had pretty much of a free ride for the last several months and now we're sort of coming together. I think when a party starts coming together and everybody gets supporting the same candidate, it's going to make a big, big difference," he said.

House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, while acknowledging the Republican party was in a "funk," said on Monday there was still plenty of time for a Dole recovery.

He noted Democratic candidate Mike Dukakis held a similarly large lead over then-Vice President George Bush before the 1988 fall campaign, and Bush surged back to victory.

Dole's win in Pennsylvania was regarded as a foregone conclusion. Commentator Pat Buchanan, the only major candidate who has not formally quit the race, did not campaign here.

With 58 percent of the vote counted, Dole led Buchanan by 66 percent to 17 percent. Also on the ballot and receiving votes were publisher Steve Forbes, 8 percent, columnist Alan Keyes, 6 percent, and Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, 4 percent.

At stake in the Republican primary were 66 delegates, who are formally uncommitted. Another seven delegates are chosen by the party later. Dole had a total of 1,214 delegates before the Pennsylvania contest, based on ABC News figures, well over the 996 needed to win the nomination.

Clinton faced only token opposition, from political renegade Lyndon Larouche, in the Pennsylvania primary contest.-Reuter