N.H. next test for candidates
HUDSON, N.H. (AP) - Fresh
from victories in the first voting of the
2000 presidential campaign.
Democrat A1 Gore and Republicar
George W. Bush quickly turned then
attention today to the contest in New
Hampshire.
Last-place finisher Orrin Hatch
decided to quit the GOP race.
“We’re not taking a single vote foi
granted,” Gore told noisy supporters a!
a Manchester rally as the candidates
spread over the state.
In the caucuses Monday night,
Gore piled up a yawning gap over rival
Bill Bradley, and Bush faced stiff com
petition from second-place finishei
Steve Forbes. Utah Sen. Hatch, a con
servative who came late to the race,
took only 1 percent of the vote in the
six-man Republican field and was
making plans for his withdrawal
announcement, a senior adviser said
Tuesday.
A new poll showed John McCain,
who skipped the Iowa caucuses, lead
ing Bush in New Hampshire and Gore
and Bradley tied in the Democratic
race.
“Yesterday was ‘Thank you, Iowa.’
Today is ‘We’re ready New
Hampshire,”’ Bush said early this
morning after an overnight flight to
Manchester. Later, he told CBS’
“Early Show” that Forbes “deserves
credit for a strong second.”
“I, however, had a strong first,”
Bush said.
An exuberant Gore, also on CBS,
said Tuesday the competition from
Bradley “is great. It’s put wind in my
sails and made it easier for me to get
my keel deeper in the water, so to
speak.”
On the Republican side, with more
than 97 percent of the state’s 2,142
precincts reporting, Bush had 41 per
cent of the vote while Forbes had 30
percent. Conservative Alan Keyes had
a solid third-place showing with 14
percent.
“Last night was a triumph of
authentic conservative principles,”
Forbes said Tuesday, predicting a “dra
matic three-way race” with Bush and
John McCain in New Hampshire.
“The Republican establishment has
met its match.”
But a party leader, Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, said
Iowa was Forbes’ “high water mark.
He’ll go down, hopefully fast, from
there.”
Forbes has staked out more con
servative positions since his 1996 loss,
particularly on abortion, but the
McCain camp believes that won’t play
as well in New Hampshire, where
^ Yesterday was, ‘Thank you, Iowa!
Today is, ‘We ’re ready, New Hampshire! ”
George W. Bush
Republican presidential candidate
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tant factor.
A Quinnipiac College poll, con
ducted before the caucuses last
Tuesday through Sunday, found peo
ple likely to vote in the Republican pri
mary favored McCain over Bush 39
percent to 28 percent; Forbes trailed at
9 percent. The margin of error was 4.5
percentage points; 498 voters were
surveyed.
The abortion issue came up for
McCain again Tuesday. Asked
whether he would favor changing the
abortion ban in the Republican plat
form to favor allowing abortion in
cases of rape or incest or to save the
mother’s life, McCain said, “I would
support the change.”
Arizona Sen. McCain, who has
focused on reforming campaign fund
raising, also said he felt vindicated by
the Supreme Court decision uphold
ing limits on political contributions.
“This is what the whole campaign was
about, is about,” McCain said.
i railing me lop inree was
Washington activist Gary Bauer at 9
percent. McCain, who skipped Iowa to
focus on New Hampshire, pulled 5
percent of the vote.
Among Democrats, with 98 per
cent of the 2,131 precincts reporting,
Gore had piled up a commanding 63
35 lead over Bradley after a tough cau
cus campaign and was hoping for a
bump heading into New Hampshire.
With only 47 Democratic and 25
Republican delegates at stake in
Monday’s caucuses, the real prize was
momentum for New Hampshire pri
maries Feb. 1.
Gore claimed that momentum, and
said his win was sweeter because
Bradley had poured millions of dollars
and hours of time into the hotly con
tested state.
The Quinnipiac College poll
found Gore and Bradley tied at 44 per
cent each. The margin of error was 5
percentage points; 371 likely
Democratic voters were surveyed.
Clinton: Hijacking rumors lack evidence
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Clinton said Tuesday that there is no
evidence Pakistan supported the
hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane
last month.
However, the hijackers may have
been linked to a terrorist group that
operates in Kashmir - a territory dis
puted by Pakistan and India - accord
ing to the State Department.
The group, known as Harkat ul
Mujahedeen, was placed on the depart
ment’s list of terrorist organizations in
1997 when it was called Harkat ul
Ansar.
The State Department’s coordina
tor for counterterrorism, Michael
Sheehan, and other senior administra
tion officials have conveyed their con
cern to the Pakistani government about
possible ties to the hijacking group and
also concern about the training of ter
rorists in Pakistan.
The anxious hijacking incident
ended with 155 hostages freed in
exchange for the Indian government’s
release of three members of the group.
Clinton, responding to a published
report that implicated the Pakistani
government, said at the White House:
“We don’t have any evidence that the
Pakistani government was involved in
that hijacking.”
State Department spokesman
James P. Rubin said, “We have no rea
son to believe that the government of
Pakistan had foreknowledge, support
ed or helped carry out” the hijacking.
Consequences for Pakistan, had the
country been implicated, could have
included being placed on the State
Department’s list of countries that
sponsor terrorism. The seven countries
on that list are ineligible for virtually all
U.S. assistance and for American sup
port in international lending institu
tions.
Clinton and his senior advisers are
weighing a decision whether the presi
dent should visit Pakistan in March on
a planned trip to India and Bangladesh.
Normally, a stop in Pakistan would be
in order diplomatically.
But the military takeover of
Pakistan by Gen. Pervez Musharraf last
October has prompted an internal
debate within the administration.
A decision is expected soon.
Because Pakistan has friendly rela
tions with the Taliban government in
Afghanistan, Musharraf could play a
helpful role in U.S. efforts to force the
expulsion from Afghanistan of Osama
bin Laden, accused by the United
States of operating a terrorism network
that arranged for the bombing of U.S.
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in
1998.
Meanwhile, relations between
India and Pakistan have soured again,
and the familiar concern in Washington
is heightened by the fact that both have
achieved nuclear weapons capability.
India has accused Pakistan of mas
terminding the hijacking.
The State Department’s Rubin sai:,
“We have been concerned for some
time about the fact that agencies of the
"We don’t have
any evidence that
the Pakistani
government was
involved in that
hijacking.”
President Bill Clinton
Pakistani government have provided
general support to a number of groups
operating in Kashmir, including Harkat
ul-Mujahedeen.” And, he said: “We
also have reason to believe that the
hijackers were affiliated with the
Harkat ul-Mujahedeen.”
Lanny Davis, an attorney repre
senting Pakistan in Washington,
denounced the Indian government’s
accusations.
Partly cloudy, Snow, showers,
high 26, low 14 high.25, low 28
Nel^raskan
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I_
Grandmothers get OK
to visit with Cuban boy
WASHINGTON (AP) - Undei
government orders, the Florida relatives
of Elian Gonzalez agreed Tuesday tc
make the boy available for a meeting
with his Cuban grandmothers today at £
neutral site, the Justice Department
said.
The grandmothers pressed theii
insistence for the boy’s return and plead
ed with Congress not to force US. citi
zenship upon him.
“The meeting will take place at the
time and site selected by the
Immigration Service,” Justice spokes
woman Carole Florman said Tuesday.
The agreement culminated a long
day of negotiations marked by an ordei
from the Immigration and
Naturalization Service to hold the neu
tral-site meeting, which had beer
thwarted on Monday by the relatives.
Florman said the government had
reassured the relatives that today’s ses
sion at the Miami Beach home of the
president of a Dominican college would
be just a visit and would not result in his
being taken back to Cuba.
The grandmothers will see Elian
privately, but the boy’s Florida relatives
will be nearby in the house at the time,
Florman said.
Earlier, after meeting lawmakers on
Capitol Hill, Mariela Quintana, the
child’s paternal grandmother, said, “He
is only a 6-year-old boy. And he’s a
Cuban.” President Clinton said he
would not rule out a veto if Congress
passes the citizenship bill.
The INS, part of the Justice
Department, ordered the boy’s great
uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, to bring Elian
to a meeting with the grandmothers at
an “appropriate neutral location” at 3
p.m. CDT today.
The INS specified that location: the
Miami Beach home of Barry University
President Jeanne O’Laughlin, a sister in
the Roman Catholic Dominican order.
The ruling followed Gonzalez’s
rejection Monday of a meeting any
where other than his own home.
The meeting “is only a visit” and
does not change the boy’s status, said
the letter signed by Michael A. Pearson,
N executive associate immigration com
missioner for field operations.
■ Great Britain
Church considers approving
remarriage for divorcees
LONDON (AP) - The Church
of England, established by the
much-wedded King Henry VIII,
took a step Tuesday toward
approving remarriage for
divorcees - an issue that may be of
keen interest to Britain’s next king.
Recommendations published
by a group of bishops, if adopted
by the church’s governing General
Synod in 2002, could make it easi
er for Prince Charles to contem
plate marriage to his longtime
love, Camilla Parker Bowles.
But the church’s main concern
is dealing with the realities of a
nation with one of the highest
divorce rates in Enrone
■ Russia
No end in sight for
fighting in Grozny
GUDERMES, Russia (AP) -
Chechen rebels in Grozny fought
ferociously Tuesday to prevent
Russian forces from capturing a
key square as federal commanders
admitted their drive to take the
center of the capital still faced
strong resistance.
Both Russian and Chechen
commanders reported intensified
fighting around Minutka Square,
where the Russian advance on the
city center has been stalled for
days. The square is near a key
Russian-held bridge across the
Sunzha River that bisects Grozny.
■ Great Britain
Human rights activists
challenge Pinochet’s release
LONDON (AP) - Human
rights groups joined Belgium in
launching a court challenge
Tuesday to prevent Britain’s top
law enforcement official from
releasing former dictator Gen.
Augusto Pinochet on grounds of ill
health.
Their challenges contend that
Home Secretary Jack Straw must
allow an independent examination
of the medical evidence he says
leaves him inclined to block the
84-year-old Chilean general’s
extradition to Spain to face
charges alleging human rights
abuses.
The doctors’ reports have not
been released for review due to
patient confidentiality.
The High Court will hear ini
tial arguments today. A formal
hearing, if granted, would likely be
held next week.
■ Texas
Prosecutor who prompted
investigation of Waco resigns
WACO, Texas (AP) - The fed
eral prosecutor who warned
Attorney General Janet Reno of a
possible government cover-up
after the 1993 Branch Davidian
siege resigned Tuesday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill
Johnston, whose willingness to re
examine evidence from the deadly
standoff touched off a re-investi
gation of the government’s actions,
handed in his resignation to his
boss, U.S. Agorney James Blagg
in San Antonio.
Johnston, 40, acknowledged
mounting frustration with Justice
officials.
He said his job had been awk
ward ever since he wrote Reno last
August.
Johnston, the chief federal
prosecutor in Waco, has been at
odds with Justice officials since he
paved the way last year for inde
pendent filmmakers to review evi
dence sifted from the charred ruins
of the Davidians’ compound.
