Bush, Gore Find California Gold

George W. Bush and Al Gore scored decisive victories in California, the biggest entree on the Super Tuesday primary menu.

In the state's overall, non-binding popular vote, Gore defeated Bush, 35 percent to 29 percent. John McCain was third at 23 percent, with Bill Bradley a distant fourth at just 9 percent.

In the GOP race, Bush garnered 60 percent of the vote to just 36 percent for McCain, with Alan Keyes bringing up the rear at 4 percent. Voters told pollsters they liked McCain, but think the Texas governor suits them better ideologically. A third of Republicans said that McCain was not conservative enough, and more than two-thirds said that Bush's level of conservatism was about right. Republicans cited "stands up for what he believes in" as the most important quality for a candidate, as they have done in other states. But unlike in other states, voters here said Bush fit that bill more than McCain.

McCain, who spent the last two days before Super Tuesday in California railing against Bush's campaign ads, was actually seen as the more negative of the two. About half of the voters said McCain attacked Bush unfairly, while about a third said that Bush had waged unfair attacks.

Tuesday night in Los Angeles, McCain told supporters he would take a few days to reflect on his campaign. But he vowed he would "never give up his mission" to reform American politics and to help the Republican party "recover its purpose." The Arizona senator didn't elaborate on his future in the campaign, saying only that he and Bush "may meet again" in primaries a few days from now. The Arizona senator will spend Wednesday at a retreat in his home state.

Bush will claim all 162 GOP delegates in this winner-take-all primary, which counts only the votes of registered party members to determine the allocation of delegates.

On the Democratic side, California may have delivered the final knockout blow to Bill Bradley's campaign. Only 19 percent of the state's Democrats chose Bradley, compared to 81 percent for the vice president. The Democrats will parcel out California's super jackpot - 367 delegates - among the candidates based on the percentage of votes they receive.

Gore's role as vice president and President Clinton's popularity in California appeared to be the strongest factors determining voters' choices. About 60 percent of voters said they liked Clinton on a personal level, a high number even among Democrats.

And the majority of Democratic voters cited experience as the most important quality for a candidate, which hasn't occurred in any previous primaries.