Graham suffers in exit polls

MIAMI - U.S. Sen. Bob Graham is frequently mentioned as a running mate who could draw the Southern vote for John Kerry on a Democratic ticket for the White House, but his appeal seems to be fading among die-hard party members and voters in general in his home base, according to Associated Press exit polls and a recent survey.

In Tuesday's Democratic primaries in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, Graham was the vice presidential pick of 9 percent of voters, well behind the 42 percent for North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and 22 percent for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to the exit polls.

In Florida, the Graham got 19 percent to Edwards' 43 percent and Clinton's 17 percent, according to the exit polls conducted for the AP and television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.

WASHINGTON - John Kerry's commanding sweep of four Southern primaries has him on the verge of mathematically clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, most likely next week.

Kerry had 2,037 delegates Wednesday, just shy of the 2,162 needed to win nomination, an Associated Press tally shows. He picked up most of the 465 pledged delegates at stake Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Public interest in the contest between President Bush and presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry is higher now than it was just before the past two elections, according to a poll released Wednesday.

More than six in 10 respondents, 63 percent, said their interest in the campaign is very high. In October 1996, that level of interest was 48 percent. In October 2000, it was 55 percent.

Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and Republican pollster Bill McInturff conducted the National Public Radio poll of 922 registered voters Feb. 26-March 1. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

BAL HARBOUR - The AFL-CIO, one of the biggest players in presidential politics, announced its most ambitious, most expensive campaign effort on Wednesday, a $44-million program to unseat President Bush.

The labor federation plans to urge its 13-million members to vote for Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and will make a special effort to focus on union members who are swing voters. For the first time, organized labor will seek to persuade and mobilize hundreds of thousands of nonunion members to vote for labor's preferred presidential candidate.

John Sweeney, the federation's president, said labor leaders had approved a 4-cent-a-month assessment on the federation's members, which would increase its political war chest to $44-million.

WASHINGTON - Gay Republicans who supported President Bush in 2000 will air a television ad opposing a Bush-backed constitutional amendment that would ban gays from marrying.

The 30-second spot by the Log Cabin Republicans shows Vice President Dick Cheney at a debate four years ago saying, "People should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into." The ad begins today in several states.

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Election 2004

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