Bush Gets Most Michigan Delegates; Robertson Forces Elect Rival Slate

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. â€”  Michigan’s disputatious Republicans, unable to resolve any of their differences, held two simultaneous state conventions in the same building here Saturday, and now plan to send rival delegations to the Republican National Convention in New Orleans.

In what appeared to be a victory for Vice President George Bush, the state convention recognized by the state party chairman and supported by several court rulings elected a national delegation dominated by Bush supporters.

But to protest a maze of rules changes and their loss of a delegate-credentials fight, conservative backers of former television evangelist Pat Robertson staged a rump convention nearby and elected a delegation controlled by Robertson supporters.

Now, the only step left in the delegate selection process will come in August at the national convention, where a credentials committee will have to decide which delegation to seat.

Kemp Gets 32 Delegates

The Bush-led convention awarded the vice president 37 of the state’s 77 national delegates. New York Rep. Jack Kemp, whose supporters made Bush’s victory possible by forming an alliance with Bush, received 32 delegates and Robertson got eight.

The conservative convention, meanwhile, gave 43 delegates to Robertson, 21 to Kemp and 13 to Bush.

When the two Michigan groups show up at New Orleans, it will be the first time since 1952 that rival slates from the same state have attempted to be seated at a Republican convention.

In the larger context of the presidential campaign, the Michigan contest has been far too chaotic to have much impact on the Republican race. Three candidates, Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, former Delaware Gov. Pierre S. (Pete) du Pont IV and former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr., did not even actively compete here.

Still, Bush seemed to accomplish what he wanted. He avoided an embarrassing defeat to Robertson that had seemed likely a month ago, just before the more important electoral tests in Iowa on Feb. 8 and New Hampshire on Feb. 16.

“Today we won 37 delegates,� Bush political aide Rich Bond said, “as many as in the whole state of Iowa.�

‘It’s a Big, Big Win’

From Iowa, Bush called his supporters here Saturday and thanked them for pulling out a victory in Michigan. “It’s a big, big win, and I’m very grateful to all of you,� he said.

Robertson’s aides dismissed the Bush claims, however. They charged that the Bush meeting was not the legitimate convention and that the Bush delegation was illegally selected. They also predicted the delegates chosen at the Robertson convention will be seated in New Orleans because they were sanctioned by the state party’s central committee, which is dominated by Robertson loyalists.

Robertson, the only presidential candidate to attend the chaotic meetings here, gave an impassioned speech to his supporters Saturday. In a surprise visit here, Robertson charged that the Bush campaign was trying to steal the election and was wrecking the state party to keep fundamentalist Christians out of power.

“What we have seen in Michigan is an attempt by a few to maintain control of their petty little fiefdoms, and in the process they are willing to destroy the party,� Robertson said, as chants of “We want Pat� rose from the 1,000 delegates to the conservative convention.

Thinly Veiled Attack

Robertson also made a thinly veiled attack on Kemp, who defected from an earlier alliance with Robertson. While calling for unity in the state party, Robertson said his supporters should deal only “in accord with fairness, not in accord with back-room deals, not in accord with a sellout of principles.�

Robertson’s campaign also is airing radio commercials in Iowa, charging Kemp with double-dealing in Michigan.

There was active speculation here that Kemp had been promised something in return by Bush, such as a spot on the ticket as vice president if Bush is nominated. But Bush aides denied cutting any deal that went beyond giving Kemp a share of the state’s delegation.

“That is so absurd that it doesn’t even deserve comment,� Bond said.

The quagmire at the state convention was a direct result of the chaos at the county conventions earlier in the month. Because so many rump conventions were held at the county level, more than 2,700 delegates to the state convention were elected at the local gatherings to fill just 1,805 slots. That led to credentials fights over almost every delegate at the state meeting.

Each Side Stages Walkouts

On the opening night of the state convention Friday, each side staged walkouts from congressional district caucuses, where most of the national delegates were chosen. They also held rump caucuses and then sought to sort out the mess at a credentials committee meeting later in the evening. The Robertson forces walked out of that credentials meeting and decided to stage their separate convention Saturday.

Despite the confusion, it seems apparent that Robertson has suffered a setback in Michigan.

Earlier in the long delegate selection process here, he had predicted that he would control a majority of the delegates to the state convention, regardless of the outcome of the rules fight with Bush.

Robertson also had vowed that he would hold a plurality of the Michigan delegation to New Orleans.

But Robertson’s supposed grass-roots support did not materialize on the scale his campaign had promised at the county conventions, which meant Robertson did not have enough strength at the state convention to thwart the Bush-Kemp coalition.