Bush and Clinton Win in S. Carolina : Politics: But the President again is dogged by a large protest vote. The Arkansas governor also is a winner in Wyoming caucuses. Tsongas wins Arizona popular vote.

COLUMBIA, S.C. —  President Bush won the South Carolina Republican primary Saturday, again having to overcome a sizable protest vote, while among the Democrats Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton coasted to an easy victory.

Clinton also won the Democratic caucuses in Wyoming, giving him his first victory outside his native South. Former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. ran a close second in Wyoming.

In the day’s third Democratic contest--caucuses in Arizona--Paul E. Tsongas emerged ahead in the popular vote while Clinton won one more delegate than the former Massachusetts senator.

With 99% of the vote counted, Tsongas had 34%, Clinton 29%, Brown 27% and Harkin 8%.

In South Carolina’s GOP primary--the day’s only Republican race--Bush had 67% with 99% of the vote counted, conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan had 26% and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, making his first appearance on a presidential ballot this year, drew 7%.

The President could take encouragement from the results because his margin of victory over Buchanan was larger than in previous tests in New Hampshire and Georgia. But with one-third of the GOP primary voters casting ballots against Bush in a state where he enjoyed some significant advantages, the results suggested that enough discontent remains in the electorate to fuel Buchanan’s protest candidacy for some time to come.

With 99% of the vote counted in the South Carolina Democratic race, Clinton had 63%, while Tsongas ran a distant second with 19%. Brown had 6%, as did Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin.

Clinton’s large margin of victory--coming on the heels of an equally impressive win last Tuesday in the Georgia primary--gave him additional reason to look forward to this week’s Super Tuesday slate of 11 Democratic primaries and caucuses, seven of them in Southern or border states. Conversely, Tsongas’ poor showing, even weaker than his performance in Georgia, may serve as an ominous warning of more bad news for his campaign on Super Tuesday.

For Harkin, the impact of South Carolina was much grimmer, perhaps spelling the end of his candidacy. He was already short of funds and, because he got less than 10% of the vote in a third successive primary, he stands to lose his eligibility for federal matching funds.

In the Wyoming Democratic caucuses, Clinton won 28% of the vote, Brown 23%, Harkin 14% and Tsongas 12%. An uncommitted slate of delegates took 22% of the vote.

Bush, in a statement released Saturday night, trumpeted his South Carolina victory. “We’re 8 and 0 and headed for Super Tuesday,” he said, referring to his previous successes against Buchanan.

In telephoned remarks to a victory rally in Columbia, he said, “This is a magnificent victory.”

Bush supporters also sought to put the best possible face on the results. “It’s a good win for us, a good win,” said South Carolina Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr., who committed his prestige and much of his energy to backing the Bush candidacy.

But Buchanan insisted the South Carolina tally showed he was “winning the debate” with Bush.

“The President of the United States just lost a third of the vote in what is supposed to be his strongest state. . . . That is not the sign of a very strong President,” he said.

Results from an exit poll of voters conducted for the major television networks showed that resentment over Bush’s decision to break his 1988 campaign pledge not to impose new taxes was a major factor influencing Buchanan voters, while Duke voters were concerned with abuses of the welfare system.

But in South Carolina, as elsewhere, economic conditions were the main factor underlying support for the President’s foes. According to the poll, about 80% of those who believed the economy to be in good condition voted for Bush; only about 35% of those dissatisfied with the economy backed him.

As for Duke, whose strong but ultimately unsuccessful bid for the governorship of his native Louisiana vaulted him to national prominence last fall, his low level of support had to disappoint his backers.

The results suggested that Buchanan had stolen most of Duke’s right-wing thunder--at least within the Republican Party. And the returns raised questions about whether Duke could make good his threat to run against Bush as a third party candidate in the fall.

Mainstream Republicans had been hoping that South Carolinians would repudiate Duke decisively and rid their party of a major embarrassment. “We’d certainly like to slay the beast,” said Tucker Eskew, Gov. Campbell’s press secretary.

Buchanan and his strategists had a similar attitude, since they regard Duke’s candidacy as an unwelcome distraction. Buchanan political director Paul Erickson said the campaign was looking forward to the “discreditation” of Duke, thus clearing the way for “a Bush-Buchanan slugfest all the way to California,” which holds its primary June 2.

Among the Democrats, the exit poll showed that Clinton, as he had in the Georgia primary last Tuesday, was once again getting strong biracial support. Nearly 80% of blacks were voting for him, as well as about 55% of whites.

“It will be a nice boost going into Super Tuesday,” Clinton said of his victory. “They came at me hard in South Carolina,” he added, referring to Tsongas and Harkin.

Tsongas said, “Obviously, we were hoping to get 20% in our ‘silver medal’ strategy and fell a bit short.” He was referring to his hope of scoring strong second-place finishes in Southern states where he has conceded Clinton would win.

Brown, meanwhile, found solace in his Wyoming showing, saying: “I consider that really good because I went to Wyoming for the first time last week--for one hour.”

In South Carolina, exit polling of voters in the Democratic primary showed a repeat of the pattern that emerged in previous contests-- a division of the electorate along economic lines, with Tsongas’ support coming mainly from upper-income voters and Clinton drawing most of his strength from the middle- and lower-income groups. Among white voters with incomes below $15,000, Clinton got better than 80%.

That same sort of breakdown was occurring in Arizona. Tsongas ran well in the middle and upper-middle-class neighborhoods in and around Phoenix and Tucson. Clinton, meanwhile, drew most of his support in rural parts of the state, minority areas--including those populated by Indians--and in blue-collar neighborhoods. Brown’s major support came from university neighborhoods.

In South Carolina, Clinton began his campaign with the type of advantages that helped propel him to victory in last Tuesday’s Georgia primary.

He was backed by most of the Democratic Establishment, as well as most black community religious leaders. Clinton also spent more time campaigning in South Carolina than any other candidate and, as in Georgia, ran hard-hitting ads that portrayed Tsongas’ economic policies as favoring Wall Street and the rich.

Tsongas visited the state only for half a day, and the Tsongas camp estimated they were outspent by Clinton 8 to 1 in the state.

Harkin, hoping for a second-place showing that would allow his faltering campaign to continue, had barnstormed across the state Friday in a last-ditch appeal to liberal Democrats, textile workers who have fallen on tough times, and black voters.

Harkin attacked Clinton for racial “insensitivity” for appearing in a newspaper photograph that showed him and Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn conversing in front of a group of black inmates who stood in military-like formation at a correctional facility in Georgia.

Brown, whose campaign was virtually nonexistent in South Carolina, had initially made an issue of the picture, charging during a candidate debate in Dallas Thursday night that Clinton and Nunn looked like “colonial masters” and sent a message of racial bias.

The Harkin campaign in South Carolina printed a last-minute flyer that juxtaposed the photo with one of Harkin and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had accompanied the Iowa senator on campaign stops Monday in the state.

But Harkin’s effort to raise questions about Clinton’s commitment to civil rights apparently came too late to penetrate, as most voters at an inner-city precinct in Columbia on Saturday said they had not heard about or seen the photograph. Some said they had not even heard of Harkin.

None of the candidates spent Saturday in South Carolina and, among the Democrats, the campaign day was marked by an escalation of verbal warfare between Tsongas and Clinton.

Tsongas, who in his toughest remarks of the campaign on Friday accused Clinton of uttering “code words” regarding his Greek background, said he would continue to attack his rival for making “a sea of malignant comments” about him.

“I’m one Greek who fights back,” Tsongas said in a clear reference to 1988 Democratic nominee Michael S. Dukakis, who was ridiculed even by fellow party members for failing to effectively respond to attacks from his Republican foe, George Bush.

Clinton, meanwhile, accused Tsongas of changing some of his economic positions in the South to curry favor with voters. “He’s a very carefully calculating politician,” Clinton said.

Bush spent the day in Florida and Alabama, wrapping up a four-day tour of the South. In Pensacola, Fla., he attacked Democratic proposals to cut the 1993 defense budget beyond the reductions he has already recommended, and then spent the afternoon fishing in Pintlala, Ala.

Asked in Alabama how he would do in South Carolina, Bush called out to reporters from a boat on a private lake, “Can’t do any better than this.”

Buchanan sought to appeal to Gulf Coast conservatives, barnstorming by bus from New Orleans to Biloxi, Miss. Outside Biloxi at what once was the home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, he laid a wreath at the grave of an unknown Confederate soldier.

Times staff writers Cathleen Decker, Paul Feldman, James Gerstenzang, Douglas Jehl, Jonathan Peterson and Paul Richter contributed to this report.

Vote Results

Here are the latest results from Saturday’s presidential contests. PRIMARY

South Carolina

DEMOCRATS

99% of precincts reporting

Vote % Delegates Jerry Brown 6,872 6 0 Bill Clinton 71,887 63 36 Tom Harkin 7,120 6 0 Paul E. Tsongas 21,172 19 7 Uncommitted 3,650 3 0

REPUBLICANS

99% of precincts reporting

Vote % Delegates George Bush 99,073 67 36 Patrick Buchanan 38,085 26 0 David Duke 10,494 7 0

CAUCUSES

Arizona

DEMOCRATS

99% of precincts reporting

Vote % Delegates Jerry Brown 10,145 27 12 Bill Clinton 10,754 29 15 Tom Harkin 2,831 8 0 Paul E. Tsongas 12,663 34 14 Uncommitted 334 1 0

Wyoming

DEMOCRATS

100% of precincts reporting

Vote % Delegates Jerry Brown 23 3 Bill Clinton 28 4 Tom Harkin 14 0 Paul E. Tsongas 12 0 Uncommitted 22 2

Though Tsongas had a larger popular vote in Arizona, Clinton ran stronger in rural regions that were choosing more delegates.

Some percentages may not total 100 because of small numbers of votes for several other candidates.