The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 1

Our Taste Team samples Pistons win first beers without the alcohol jSjgflp NBA playoff test Today! IT 1 THE WEATHER Mostly mnny today, high In low Clear to partly cloudy tonight; low around 60. sunny Thursday; high in the mld-80a. Sunrise: p.m. Details; 1IT nB Uh 2T Crojswof 4T Obituarici 5M jf Busdwii 5S Editor tart 14A People In Nw.i.. 2A Classified 6T letlers 15A Sports 4S Comics 5T lotteries 2T TV schedules 4T THE NEWSPAPER IOWA DEPENDS UPON Des Moines, Iowa, Wednesday, June 6, 1990 Price 35? ''J i immk JACK ROBERT BISHOP KRAMME La Lj dtl 2 1 A a I SECTION WWW dsfyHlhl 1990 Dm Molnti Jf liter and Tribune Company A Oannett Newspaper Tight race spurs record voter turnout Abortion seen as big issue i.

j. in i ate agamai di aiiMau 6y DAVID YEPSEN Reenter Staff Writer Donald Avenson won the Democratic nomination for governor Tuesday and set the stage for a fall campaign centering on abortion. The 45-year-old House speaker defeated Attorney General Tom Miller and Coon Rapids banker John Chrys-tal in a record turnout in a Democratic primary. He will face Republican Gov. Terry Branstad in the fall.

His victory means Iowa voters will face an anti-abortion vs. pro-choice decision in November, and political experts say many other issues will be crowded out by the heat of that argument. Incumbent Democratic Senator Tom Harkin, who is pro-choice, will face Republican U.S. Representative Tom Tauke, who is anti-abortion. "Tonight, we gave the people of Iowa a choice," Avenson told a crowd of his supporters at the Starlite Vil lage Hotel in Des Moines, v' You have nominated yourself a tiger," he said.

"A tiger for the ordinary people of this state. A tiger for the ordinary Iowans who work every day, paycheck to paycheck. A tiger for our children's future. A tiger for the environment. A tiger for good jobs and wages.

A tiger to make sure that we end this drug scourge that's crossing our state. A tiger to turn this GOVERNOR Please turn to Page 8A Th Rgittr Iowa: Here are unofficial totals in Tuesday's primary election, as reported by The Associated Press: GOVERNOR DEMOCRATS (2,565 of 2,567 precincts) 'Avenson Chrystal Miller Powers 1 'Zimmerman 2 STATE AUDITOR DEMOCRATS (2,565 of 2,567 precincts) Gray ATTORNEY GENERAL REPUBLICANS (2,565 of 2,567 precincts) Kelly Schmett CONGRESS 2ND DISTRICT Democrats (353 of 353 precincts) Sovern Tabor. Repablicans (353 of 353 precincts) ErU. Moldenhauer Nussle 8.191-39 1 Rasmussen is soundly defeated Brannan says, 'I'm beat'; Mauro rides to victory By ANNE CAROTHERS-KAY and MARY ANN LICKTEIG Register Stall Writers In a historic primary strongly influenced by the Prairie Meadows horse track, Polk County voters Tuesday apparently kicked three incumbent Democrats out of office. Supervisor Clark Rasmussen of West Des Moines was defeated by challenger John Mauro, who said his vote tally showed that he carried 23 of 30 precincts in the southwest Polk County supervisor district.

Late Tuesday night, Richard "Red" Brannan said, "I'm beat," although Polk County election officials said the race was too close to call. Robert Kramme of Alleman led 20-year incumbent Brannan by about 100 votes. County Attorney James Smith was defeated 53 percent to 47 percent by John Sarcone, who mounted a grass-. roots campaign and raised more money than Smith. The third supervisor, Jack Bishop, defeated three Democratic challengers in his eastern Polk County district, pulling 44 percent of the vote.

If Kramme's victory holds after the absentee ballots are counted, it will be the first time voters have cleared out so many incumbents in more than 40 years. Democrats seized control of the county courthouse from Republicans in the early 1950s, but that effort took several elections. "I think it's a night of major upsets, and a number of very fine public officials lost because people lost confidence in them," said former Polk County Supervisor Tom Whitney, who now is chairman of the county's charter commission. "Prairie Meadows carried a great- SUPERVISORS Please turn to Page 6A 1 ff Jilt ll. Clutching his wife, Diane, Democratic JOHN MAURO Sarcone ends Smith's career as Polk attorney By CHRIS OSHER Reoister Stall Writer John Sarcone soundly defeated Polk County Attorney James Smith in the Democratic primary Tuesday.

"We started in January with a plan and we didn't deviate from that plan," Sarcone said from his campaign's victory party at Babe's Restaurant. "We'll let this sink in for a couple of days, and then it's back to the office to plan for the fall election." Although no Republican has stepped forward for the general election, Sarcone said he would prepare as if he would have opposition. Sarcone had 53 percent of the vote to Smith's 47 percent. Throughout the campaign, Sarcone, 39, of 3004 S.W. 39th cited last year's investigation of Smith's office conducted by the Iowa attorney general's office.

Sarcone said the investigation, which Smith requested after allegations of cronyism arose, ATTORNEY Please turn to Page 6A JOHN SARCONE DOUG WELLSTho Reolstor his running mate, Jo Ann Zimmerman. EES Polk County: Here are unofficial totals in Tuesday's Polk County primary election, as reported by the county election office: COUNTY ATTORNEY DEMOCRATS (155 of 155 precincts) Sarcone 19,453 547c Smith SUPERVISORS DISTRICT 1 (37 of 37 precincts) Democrats Brannan 3,298 497o Kramme 3,46351 DISTRICT 2 (31 of 31 precincts) Democrats Bishop Boatwright 552 8 Nahas Peterson Republicans Beattie 675 -56 Woolley 528 -44 DISTRICT 5 (31 of 31 precincts) Democrats Mauro 5,330 57 Rasmussen 4,000 43 Republicans Brodie 719 -29 Gering 675 28 Rupp 1,052 -43 Incumbent Biggest sweep in 40 years The apparent defeat of three incumbent Democrats marks the biggest turnover at the Polk County Courthouse in more than 40 years. STORY: Page 7A nn -4 Avenson built victory piece by careful piece By DAVID YEPSEN Roomer Stall Writer Last winter, Donald Avenson sat in his cavernous Statehouse office, chewing snuff and doodling on a yellow legal pad. The combative House speaker was working on what he called his "wiring diagram" for the 1990 Democratic primary campaign for governor. Like the tool-and-die maker he is, he was fitting the parts together.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz," he said, pretending his finger was a welding torch. Wiring diagrams like this one have been a feature of Avenson's leadership in the Iowa House as he put together the coalitions and combinations he needed for legislative victories. And his come-from-behind victory in Tuesday's primary was the same thing, on a larger scale. winner Donald Avenson holdibaod of NEVYS ANALYSIS In the rough and tumble of a primary campaign, it was Avenson, not Attorney General Tom Miller or Coon Rapids banker John Chrystal, who was in better shape. The daily, fast-breaking style of Statehouse politics was better training than pushing paper in a law office or bank.

Mistakes But while Avenson ran a winning campaign and in politics that's all that counts in many ways it was not a good campaign. He will have to ANALYSIS Please turn to Page 13A Kevorkian said in a telephone interview late Tuesday that it was the first time he bad used the device to assist a suicide. Adkins' husband, Ron, defended her right to die. "She loved life. She just lived life to the fullest," be said Tuesday night in a news conference in Portland.

"She was a powerful woman and she was an intelligent woman. I was the weak one. She was strong. She had made up her mind." One of their three sons, Neil, told Portland KATU-TV Tuesday night: "She was in a very good state of that's the amazing thing. It was not a desperate thing or a depressed situa- SUICIDE Please turn to Page 12A 'Suicide device' is used; experts call act immoral wfT Kill DETROIT.

MICH. (AP) An Alzheimer's patient traveled 2,000 miles to commit suicide with the help of a doctor who built a device that gave her a lethal dose of chemicals. The last thing Janet Adkins of Port land, told Dr. Jack Kevorkian was, "You just make my case known." Then, the doctor said, she pressed a button on the contraption that released the intravenous mixture. Some experts on medical ethics called the doctor's actions immoral and perhaps illegal.

A prosecutor said he would wait for autopsy results before deciding whether to charge Kevorkian and will seek an injunction to prevent the retired pathologist from using the device again..