Vice president takes Michigan

DETROIT (AP) - Vice President Al Gore captured Michigan's critical 18 electoral votes yesterday behind efforts that included a first-ever UAW holiday and an active get-out-the-vote effort in Detroit that sought to send more Democratic voters to the polls.

An exit poll by Voter News Service, a partnership of The Associated Press and television networks, showed that Gore would win enough votes in Michigan to defeat GOP Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the state.

With 79 percent of precincts reporting, Gore had 1,678,472 votes, or 51 percent, to Bush's 1,556,978 votes, or 47 percent.

The candidates, their running mates and family members traveled the state often in pursuit of Michigan's electoral votes, a prize that could give either the winning margin in the tightest presidential race in 40 years.

Bush had turned to his good friend Gov. John Engler to get out the vote as the race went to the wire. Late Tuesday night, Engler had refused to acknowledge Gore as Michigan's victor and said "let's wait until all the numbers are in,'' then later voiced disappointment at Bush's setback in Michigan.

"Well, yes, I wanted to be the one that puts George Bush over the top. Now it looks like it's going to be his younger brother (Florida Gov.) Jeb Bush who's going to put him over the top,'' Engler said about 12:30 a.m. today as the electoral vote tallies pressed on.

Both Bush and Gore secured their partisan bases and were nearly even in drawing independents, according to the exit poll.

It found that Gore drew strong backing from key Democratic constituencies - blacks, organized labor and liberals - and from voters who considered themselves better off financially than they were four years ago.

About three-quarters of voters who said honesty was the primary personal quality backed Bush, while similarly large majorities of those who picked experience and knowledge of complex issues went with Gore, the poll found.

Sharon Gordon, a homemaker from Dimondale near Lansing, had the flu but still went to the polls and voted for Gore.

"I don't think Bush is very bright. I wasn't happy with his dad. I think we'll get the same thing,'' she said in an interview separate from the exit poll.

She added that she didn't like Bush continually talking about honor and integrity. "I got a little sick of this bringing up morality,'' she said, adding that she thinks Gore "is a good family man.''

"I like what Clinton's done. I think Gore will follow up on it. I think we should vote on the issues,'' she said.

To retired school teacher Jean Porter, Bush was a "fairly weak number'' who didn't get her vote.

"He's got a lot of that southern charm, that `Yes ma'am,' but that's not enough,'' Porter, 80, said after voting in an East Lansing church in an interview separate from the exit poll.

Margaret Lynch, 72, called the choice one between "a lesser of two evils.'' She voted for Bush.

"I've always leaned Republican, but I don't really like Gore's attitude or what his proposals are,'' she said after voting in St. Clair Shores with her husband Jerry, who also voted for Bush.

Gore pressed for backing from minorities such as Ignacio Lemus, a 39-year-old Detroit plant worker. Speaking in Spanish at a polling site in Detroit's Mexicantown district, Lemus said he voted for Gore because of the candidate's backing of unions and pledge to shore up Social Security.

"We need assurance for the elderly of the future ... because we are the elderly of the future,'' he said.

In Livonia, computer programmer Mahnoush St. Clair, 42, said her vote for Gore was a vote for the pledged defender of abortion rights. She said her chief concern was the prospect that Bush, if elected, would nominate Supreme Court justices who could overturn Roe v. Wade.

"Governor Bush to me is an oxymoron - he wants small government, but also wants to have government tell me what to do with my body,'' she said impassionately, clutching her chest. "No discussion. It's a turnoff.''

AP PHOTO

Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush were busy late into the night on Election Day - and their campaigns are not done yet.