By Anne E. Kornblut and Ann Scales, Globe Staff, 3/15/2000

RELATED Voting patterns in presidential election years since 1960 in the 11 states of the Old Confederacy: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Information includes governors, senators and representatives from each party and popular votes in the general presidential elections. (Source: Congressional Quarterly's "America Votes") 1960: GOVERNORS: 11 Democrats. SENATORS: 22 Democrats. HOUSE: 99 Democrats, 7 Republicans. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE: 5,185,115 Democratic, 4,723,753 Republican, 363,783 for other. 1964: GOVERNORS: 11 Democrats. SENATORS: 20 Democrats, 2 Republicans. HOUSE: 89 Democrats, 16 Republicans. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE: 6,060,100 Democratic, 5,818,266 Republican, 221,887 other. 1968: GOVERNORS: 9 Democrats, 2 Republicans. SENATORS: 18 Democrats, 4 Republicans. HOUSE: 80 Democrats, 27 Republicans. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE: 5,122,657 Republican, 4,578,323 Democratic, 5,102,736 other. 1972: GOVERNORS: 8 Democrats, 3 Republicans. SENATORS: 14 Democrats, 7 Republicans. HOUSE: 75 Democrats, 33 Republicans. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE: 10,740,943 Republican, 4,465,383 Democratic, 228,668 other. 1976: GOVERNORS: 9 Democrats, 2 Republicans. SENATORS: 16 Democrats, 5 Republicans, 1 independent. HOUSE: 80 Democrats, 27 Republicans. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE: 9,916,123 Democratic, 7,879,936 Republican, 193,500 other. 1980: GOVERNORS: 6 Democrats, 5 Republicans. SENATORS: 11 Democrats, 10 Republicans, 1 independent. HOUSE: 69 Democrats, 39 Republicans. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE: 10,637,351 Republican, 9,205,105 Democratic, 837,329 other. 1984: GOVERNORS: 9 Democrats, 2 Republicans. SENATORS: 12 Democrats, 10 Republicans. HOUSE: 73 Democrats, 42 Republicans. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE: 14,549,109 Republican, 8,675,753 Democratic, 104,559 other. 1988: GOVERNORS: 7 Democrats, 4 Republicans. SENATORS: 15 Democrats, 7 Republicans. HOUSE: 76 Democrats, 40 Republicans. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE: 13,560,887 Republican, 9,504,679 Democratic, 188,010 other. 1992: GOVERNORS: 9 Democrats, 2 Republicans. SENATORS: 12 Democrats, 10 Republicans. HOUSE: 78 Democrats, 47 Republicans. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE: 11,731,404 Republican, 10,341,338 Democratic, 4,482,996 other. 1996: GOVERNORS: 8 Republicans, 3 Democrats. SENATORS: 15 Republicans, 7 Democrats. HOUSE: 72 Republicans, 53 Democrats. PRESIDENTIAL VOTE: 12,133,935 Democratic, 12,109,706 Republican, 2,045,538 other.

USTIN - One week after the dramatic Super Tuesday sweepstakes that effectively ended the presidential primary races on both sides, Texas Governor George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore swept through six southern states yesterday, nailing down the number of delegates needed to become their parties' nominees.

Virtually no one was paying attention. Voter turnout was low throughout the primary states, and even campaign aides seemed uninterested in the results, which were all but secured in advance. Bush didn't even bother to campaign for his home state's primary, instead spending the day in Austin, doing state business and sorting out plans for a US Secret Service detail.

Each candidate used the event to focus on the task at hand: trying to persuade voters he should be elected the next president of the United States.

Bush railed against Al Gore in his victory speech, foreshadowing the bitter battle that is sure to follow over the next eight months. And, quoting Abraham Lincoln, he once more vowed to make education the centerpiece of his campaign, as he has done for more than a year.

''We are halfway to our goal. But only halfway,'' Bush told a cheering crowd at the Dell Jewish Community Center. ''To get there, we must face one more Clinton/Gore campaign. The last week has been a preview. It's been a preview that the Gore campaign will say anything to win, and try to win at any cost.''

After comparing his position with Gore's on campaign finance, the military, and Clinton himself, Bush said: ''I will challenge the status quo. Al Gore is the status quo.'' His speech was briefly interrupted by death penalty protesters, but their jeers were quickly drowned out by the chants of the crowd: ''No more Gore!''

Gore, meanwhile, held his celebration in Tallahassee, Fla., the home of Bush's brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Despite the strength of the Bush family there, Gore said he would make it a key state in the general election - a point he hammered home last night.

''This is the night that we cross the delegate threshold, and I wanted to symbolize with my presence here that Florida is a key battleground state,'' Gore told a boisterous crowd of several hundred people at Leon High School.

Despite winning the nomination handily after Bill Bradley's withdrawal from the race, Gore said Democrats must stay ''strong and united'' for the fall campaign, and predicted ''a very tough fight'' against Bush.

Before addressing the crowd, Gore e-mailed Bush, challenging him to a debate within the next two weeks that would focus on the economy, tax cuts, Social Security, and Medicare. He also challenged the Texas governor to hold off on ''soft money'' television ads in the general election and to agree to a series of joint open meetings before ''genuinely undecided voters'' chosen by agreement of the two campaigns.

Bush has said in the past he has no plans to debate Gore on such a basis, citing what he says is Gore's inconsistency on campaign finance issues as proof the vice president cannot be taken at his word.

Bush, whose home state held one of last night's six primaries, had voted for himself via absentee ballot the week prior, a plan arranged before it was clear the nomination was clinched. But his parents did cast ballots in Houston, and spoke to reporters outside the voting booths.

Said former President George Bush: ''It gets down to family and how lucky we are.''

Gore was up early, read through his CIA briefings and the newspapers, and went for an hourlong run in the hills behind his house before visiting his mother. Then the vice president traveled from his home in Carthage, Tenn., to Tallahassee, Fla., after voting for himself in his home state primary. He told reporters there would be ''no letup'' heading in the general election race.

Also yesterday, Bush aides said the campaign is refocusing on raising campaign funds, after spending about $60 million of the $70 million he originally raised. He is scheduled to participate in fund-raisers in Illinois, Palm Beach, and New York in the coming weeks, after disclosing in a campaign finance report that he had approximately $10 million on hand now.

But the delegate problem, at least, was solved by last night. As the day wore on, exit polls suggested strengths and weaknesses for each candidate. In Tennessee, 80 percent of Republicans said they had an unfavorable opinion of Gore, a former congressman and senator from the state. And just 4 percent said they would vote for the vice president in the fall.

Bush, meanwhile, is considered more conservative now than he was while running for governor of Texas in 1998, voters there indicated. He also seemed to fare better with voters from the other party than Gore. Only 6 percent of Republicans said they would cross party lines to vote for the vice president, half of the number of Democrats who said they would support Bush.

For both men, it was a first taste of being the official nominee for president. Gore had failed during his last attempt, in 1988.