Primary upset forces changes of strategy

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Primary upset forces changes of strategy

After the weekend's primaries, which upset predictions that Representative Rhee In-je would lead, the seven presidential hopefuls of the Millennium Democratic Party have begun to change their strategies. Fourteen primaries in major cities or provinces remain.

The candidate most pressed is Mr. Rhee. Although the voters in Jeju and Ulsan, two southern cities, constituted only 3 percent of the 70,000 electors who will select the ruling party's presidential nominee, he has lost twice. He has been hard hit by the victories of Representative Hahn Hwa-kap in Jeju and Noh Mu-hyun, a senior party adviser, in Ulsan.

"We were too complacent over the predicted poll results," said Representative Kim Ki-jae, who steers Mr. Rhee's campaign. "We were unaware of the party's outer groups moving their support toward other candidates." Mr. Rhee stands second with 394 votes of the total 1,692 cast so far. One aide in the Rhee camp said, "We have no alternative but to do our best up to the April 27 primary in Seoul."

Mr. Noh, a human rights lawyer and former maritime affairs and fisheries minister who seized the initial lead, will shift strategy, from attacking Mr. Rhee to one more befitting a presidential contender.

"Strategically and in principle, we needed to launch such an offensive against Mr. Rhee, but now we will campaign on a more stable image," said a Noh aide. After two primaries Mr. Noh leads the other six other candidates, having captured 423 or 25.1 percent of the total.

Campaign workers of Mr. Hahn, winner of Saturday's Jeju primary and a core member of the Donggyo-dong faction of Kim Dae-jung loyalists, said the race now has become a stampede of "multiple front-runners, rather than one front-runner leading decisively."

"The critical factor in the remaining primaries will be regional sentiment," said the Hahn aide. "The fact that Mr. Noh and Kim Joong-kwon together earned a majority of the votes in Ulsan will spur rebellious votes from the Jeolla provinces."

With 50 percent of the party delegates in Seoul and its surrounding areas hailing from the Jeolla provinces, the aide said, the competition will come down to the organizational prowess of Rhee In-je and Hahn Hwa-kap.

Mr. Kim, a former party chairman and presidential chief of staff who stands third with 336 votes, is expected to remain in the top three as the ruling party primaries go through the Jeolla and Chungcheong provinces. His campaign aides said that he would shoot for narrow victories in Daegu on April 5 and in North Gyeongsang province on April 7.

The front-runners have already started stumping in Gwangju, the party's de facto headquarters, and Daejon, where primaries are scheduled this weekend. The party has 1,932 electors in Gwangju and 1,876 in Daejon. Mr. Hahn traveled to Gwangju on Monday. Mr. Rhee opened his election headquarters on Monday. And Mr. Noh appealed to the Gwangju grassroots, stressing his Gyeongsang background.

by Kim Chong-hyuk

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