McCain, Gore Win Connecticut Primary

The two presidential candidates who won the most primary votes in Newtown on Tuesday were expected to withdraw from the race by week’s end.

Newtown winners John McCain and Bill Bradley were licked just about everywhere else across the country. Connecticut was one of just a handful of states won by Republican Senator McCain of Arizona earlier this week. Texas Gov George W. Bush, who took a giant step toward securing the GOP nomination on Tuesday, was victorious almost everywhere else. In Newtown, however, it was Sen McCain winning, 981-817. Alan Keyes received 67 Newtown votes. Steve Forbes, who bowed out of the race several weeks ago, picked up nine votes.

On the Democratic side, Newtown picked Bill Bradley over Vice President Al Gore, 518-473. Mr Bradley, the former Senator from New Jersey, was a loser just about everywhere else.

In Newtown, 4,607 Republicans, or 39 percent, showed up at the polls. Democrats voting Tuesday totaled 3,145 or 32 percent.

New Jersey Sen Bill Bradley spent more time in the state but lacked the backing of the party machine.

Statewide, Gore led Bradley 55 percent to 42 percent. McCain led Bush 49 percent to 46 percent. Alan Keyes ran a distant third with 3 percent.

Bush, born in Connecticut, never played on his Nutmeg State connection. His father, the former President, was a student at Yale University in New Haven when “Dubya” was born July 6, 1946. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. senator from Connecticut from 1952 to 1963.

Bush largely ignored the state — with its relatively paltry 25 GOP convention delegates, all of whom will go to McCain — in favor of larger prey in California, New York and Ohio. His only recent visit to Connecticut was a brief airport rally Saturday.

McCain spoke Friday at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, in what initially appeared would be competing appearances at Roman Catholic universities in that city. But Bush canceled a speech at Fairfield University, citing a scheduling conflict.

In January, McCain held a fundraiser in Greenwich and spoke at the Metro Hartford Chamber of Commerce. He appeared at Yale in December.

McCain drew support from Connecticut’s wealthy Indian tribes. A group of executives of the Mashantucket Pequots and Foxwoods Resort Casino donated at least $20,900 to his campaign.

McCain, who is in his third term as senator from Arizona, is a past chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He remains a member of the committee.

Gore spoke at the state Democratic Party’s annual fundraising dinner on February 19. Bradley’s backers were irked that he was not invited.

Bradley was in Hartford early on the morning after the New Hampshire primary, and visited the state in mid-February and again on Thursday.

His wife, Ernestine, visited Wesleyan University on February 24.

State Democratic Chairman Ed Marcus lauded the efforts of town chairmen and labor unions who supported Gore.

“It was a victory that was achieved with almost no money being spent,” he said.

The state’s 67 delegates to the Democratic Party convention will be apportioned among Gore, Bradley and “uncommitted.”

Connecticut did not draw the attention either party gave to larger states. But Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said turnout appeared to be running higher than the 20 percent seen previously.

“Because there’s been a very lively debate both on the Republican side and the Democratic side, I think that generated a lot of interest,” she said.

Turnout appeared highest in Fairfield County, which Bysiewicz attributed to the campaigns’ high visibility in nearby New York City.

(Bee reporter Steve Bigham and Rich Harris of the Associated Press contributed to this story.)