Ninety- nine years of editorialfreedorn Vol. IC, No. 45 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Wednesday, November 9, 1988 Copyright 1988, The Michigan Daily BUSH' BEATS DUKAKIS 54-46%; POLLACK, PURSELL CLOSE Election Round-up Bullard keeps House seat State Rep. Perry Bullard (D- Ann Arbor) easily won re-election to his ninth term as the representative from the 52nd District. He staved off challengers Rich Birkett, a Republican, and Scott Jones, from the Workers Against Concessions party. "Considering the guy two years ago lost 65-35, I'll be happy with anything better than that," Birkett said. Robb wins in Va. Senate Former Virginia Governor Charles Robb, a Democrat, was elected to the Virginia senate, defeating Republican challenger Maurice Dawkins. Robb becomes the first Democratic senator from that state since 1972. Voters retain Md. gun law Voters were giving Maryland's .tough handgun law a surprisingly big lead in early returns yesterday, in a contest both sides saw as crucial to impending gun control debtes in other states. With 10 percent of the precincts reporting, support for the law banning cheap handguns known as "Saturday Night Specials" was ahead 61-39. Sen. Weicker falls in Conn. Incumbent Republican Senator Lowell Weicker, a liberal senator from Connecticut lost to Democratic challenger Joseph Lieberman in a close race. Weicker was supported by liberal groups such as labor unions, women's groups and even Coretta Scott King. Iowa keeps 'Gopher' on board Fred Grandy, better known for his role as 'Gopher' in TV's "The Love Boat" won re-election to the U.S. Congress from Iowa. He will begin his second term in January. Dens still hold Senate Democrats will retain control of the U.S. Senate, although late results show that they might gain one seat. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) will step down as majority leader. ILadysntith Black Mamnbazo add a whole new meaning to the word IsPcathamiya. See Arts, Page 7 House hopefuls await results BY MICHAEL LUSTIG As of press time last night, State Sen. Lana Pollack held a slim lead over U.S. Rep. Carl Pursell in their battle for Pursell's Congress seat. Pollack had 49,352 votes, while Pursell had 46,424 of the 47 percent of the vote counted by 12:45 a.m. Pollack came to her reception at the Howard Johnson's on Ann Arbor's Carpenter Road at 12:25, and said, "We simply don't know what the results are going to be." This deflated some of the enthusiasm of several hundred volunteers and supporters had earlier been told that Pollack was leading Pursell by nearly 20,000 votes. Pursell reacts to close vote. See Story, Page 3 Aides blamed the over-reporting of vote totals on computer malfunctions. After speaking, Pollack said she was going back up to her room to "wring my hands." "Stay tuned," she told the crowd. Pollack received strong support from the Ann Arbor area, leading the University area nearly 3-1. She was also doing well in Jackson. But Pollack, who has served in the Michigan Senate since 1982, was not faring so well in western Wayne County. She said votes from a mix of precincts, including Wayne County and Ann Arbor, hadn't yet been counted, so she refused to make any predictions on the final tallies. She did, however, appear confident. She smiled broadly as her supporters greeted her with applause and chants of "Lana, Lana!" "I am always cautious," Pollack said. To lighten some of the tension, Marcia Federbush, a supporter, pulled out a small keyboard and sang "a dirge" she wrote to the tune of Chopin's Funeral March. The refrain went, "It's clear that George Bush doesn't care about you." No one paid much attention to President-elect Bush's acceptance See House, Page 2 Associated Press George Bush has reason to celebrate; he will be sworn in as our nation's 41st president come January. Bush triumphed over Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis in Michigan and across the nation, winning 57% of Michigan's popular vote. Early results show Bush carries Mich. voters BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS U.S. Vice President George Bush won a landslide victory in the Presidential race over Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis last night. Bush beat Dukakis in Michigan, winning the state's 20 electoral votes and continuing a Republican dominance of the state's presidential elections that stretches back to 1972. "Obviously, it feels good," the president-elect said as he received the nation's verdict in Houston. At press time last night, Bush had 355 electoral votes, not counting Illinois, California, or Hawaii. Bush planned a morning news conference for today and then a triumphant return to Washington. He received a late-night call of congratulations from President Reagan, as did vice president-elect tabulation. Victory came shortly after 11 p.m. yesterday. Bush drew on a watered-down version of the Reagan coalition yesterday, attracting some Democrats to his side, while Dukakis won the support of voters who felt excluded from national prosperity, exit polls said. Bush's experience weighed in his favor, the polls said, and his candidacy appeared to be boosted by affection for his boss, President Reagan. Bush will be the first U.S. President since Martin Van Buren to win the presidency while serving as Vice President. Dukakis campaigned even as the vote totals mounted. "It's a fight to the finish, a cliffhanger," he said. "It reminds me of 1960," when John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon battled down to the finish, Dukakis said before concluding a final round of interviews. Bentsen said on ABC that Republicans "did a job on Michael Dukakis with the negative ads... And they distorted his record, to a See Bush, Page 2 Proposal BY VICTORIA BAUER AND LISA WXINE R After weeks of heated debate and emotionally charged ads, early results indicated that Michigan taxpayers voted to stop funding abortions for poor women through Medicaid. With two percent of the votes tabulated, 35,225 or 61 percent voted to pass Proposal A, while only 22,097 or 39 percent voted against the proposal. Though Ann Arbor residents voted strongly against the proposal, the more conservative western and northern regions voted in favor of it, said Molly Henry of the People's Campaign for Choice. "There is a strong possibility that we are going to lose," Henry said. Washtenaw County Right to Life was confident the early results signified an imminent win, said spokesperson Robert Houbech. Besides garnering "an awful lot of grass roots support," Houbech attributed their early success to unexpected support from voters on the lower socio- economic level as reported in a Detroit News poll. "(We were) very surprised. The very people you would victory have thought would have felt the most threatened showed much support," said Houbech. Both camps thought a much larger voter turn-out than expected - about 70 percent nationally - would help them win. When voter turnout is very low, those that that vote are traditionally more conservative, said Henry. "I think (voter turn-out) will be good for us," said Rae Ann Houbech, spokesperson for Washtenaw County Right to Life. "I think we have a majority of the state... the particularly big turn-out was in the Western part of the state, which has always been more pro-life." Both sides said Proposal A may have drawn an unexpectedly high number of voters to the polls. "I've been hearing so many things about people being apathetic about the Presidential election," said Henry. "I think (Proposal A) definitely had something to do with the large turnout. Both sides spent a total of $3.8 million. The proposal occupied center stage on Michigan's political scene and attracted national attention as one of the three abortion issues on state ballot around the country. The others were Colorado and Arkansas. Long lines irk student voters BY TARANEH SHAFI Local officials predicted a tradi- tionally low turnout at the polls yesterday, but University students proved them wrong. At East Quad late yesterday after- noon, the line of students waiting to cast their ballots stretched down halls and around corners. By early evening students were sprawled on the floor studying as the expected wait swelled up to three hours at many campus polling sites. Ann Arbor city election clerk Herb Katz said some voters at the Michigan Union might have to wait until midnight to vote. Even though the polls closed at 8 p.m., state law mandates that people who were in line by closing time would still be able to vote. Across the state, as well as in Ann Arbor, voter turnout was stronger than expected. "This one is heavy. It's heavier than '84," Katz said. He thinks that because the bal- lot incorporates a variety of interests Students, however, were irritated by the seemingly never-ending lines. One student is even planning to file a complaint with the city on behalf of the student body. LSA junior Zachary Kittrie, chair of the Michi- gan Student Assembly's External Relations Committee, said he spoke with the Ann Arbor City Clerk's office about the problem. Officials admitted that the Ann Arbor City Council has not modernized the voting system and that the city faces the same problem of over-crowded polling precincts every four years, Kittrie said. "I think this is reprehensible - completely irresponsible of the city council," he said. "There is no pos- sible explanation for hundreds of students who couldn't vote in their presidential elections because of time constraints," Kittrie thinks that this situation would not be allowed in non-student wards. But Election Clerk Katz said vot- ers were spending more time in the Mainstream n nedias coverage of Sotdeib anriciiectio ns cealethe false diion between nti- al ist and conservative parties. Se Opinion, Page 4 ROBIN LOZNAK/Daily Would-be student voters wait in line to exercise their constitutional rights yesterday; Michigan Union. Lines at polling places all around campus, including Stockwell, Lloyd, and East Quad were of unprecendented length. Voters at East Quad had to wait three hours to cast their votes. at the Alice about Ci A... . a ,... . A - .. ..,. ,.... ..,.-. - -. ., -, - . .. . I