WASHINGTON -- Walter Mondale said Tuesday his victories in Maryland and North Carolina are 'an important step forward' and he predicted he will win both the nomination and the general election.
'I know that we're going to win this,' he told cheering supporters at a Washington hotel. 'And I know we're going to be elected becauuse that's what the American people want.'
Mondale delayed an appearance at his party until shortly after 11 p.m. EDT because of the close races in Ohio and Indiana. His opponent, Gary Hart, was declared the winner in Indiana in what many considered a life-saving victory for the Hart campaign.
The Ohio and Indiana races clearly were a disappointment to the Mondale campaign. It had hoped to deal a knockout blow to Gary Hart in an industrial area that should be strong Mondale territory. But at the end, polls showed undecided voters shifting toward Hart.
'Tonight we made another very important step forward down that road to the nomination in San Francisco and to our election this coming fall,' Mondale said.
Mondale was accompanied by his wife, Joan, and Rep. Claude Pepper, D-Fla., one of his staunchest and most active supporters.
Earlier, Mondale appeared relaxed despite polls showing the primary race for the Democratic presidential nomination still tight in Ohio, the largest of the four states holding primaries Tuesday.
He earlier canceled plans to return home Monday and spent another day in Ohio because of the closeness of the contest.
At a rapid transit stop at Terminal Tower in Cleveland, he bantered with reporters while waiting for surprised morning commuters to be herded through a door where he stood alongside Gov. Richard Celeste and Rep. Mary Rose Oakar, D-Ohio.
During a lull, with no commuters in sight, he suggested, 'Why don't you send the Secret Service men through?'
Asked by a reporter if he would consider naming Hart his vice president, he said, 'I'm not picking vice presidents. It's raining too hard.'
The relatively calm campaign schedule Tuesday was a marked contrast to a grueling air march Monday across all four primary states, beginning in Cincinnati and flying to Indianapolis, Cleveland, Toledo and Akron, Ohio; Charlotte, N.C., Baltimore and back to Cleveland.
'This (Ohio prmary) is very close,' he said. 'I'm convinced it's as tight as it can be.'
Cleveland, with 40 percent of the state-wide Democratic vote, is the party's stronghold of Ohio, which has a strong Republican tradition. Mondale visited the city three times in as many days.
