Gore beats Bradley easily in Michigan caucus
By Reuters, 03/08/00
DETROIT -- Vice President Al Gore won an uncontested caucus in Michigan Saturday, a political footnote after former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley pulled out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this week. With all of the state's caucus sites reporting results, Gore bested Bradley by 15,883 to 3,117 votes. A final distribution of the state's 84 delegates to the Democratic National Convention would be ready Monday, party officials said. Democrats were also voting Saturday in the Minnesota caucus and a primary in Arizona, where for the first time, there was the option of voting over the Internet. Arizona state Democratic Chairman Mark Fleisher told the Arizona Republic newspaper the total turnout was more than 76,000, "the biggest by far we've ever had for a presidential primary. He said nearly half of the votes came during four days of online voting. Gore handily beat Bradley in that contest. Gore visited Michigan earlier this week to court Democrats and the state's large number of independent-minded voters, who turned out in droves in the Feb. 22 Republican primary to give Arizona Sen. John McCain one of his early victories against Texas Gov. George W. Bush before McCain withdrew from the race. Gore was in Minneapolis Saturday meeting with Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura to discuss campaign finance reform, a key plank to winning over independent voters. |