Ike Outdistances Taft; Kefauver Leads H.S.T.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower widened his lead over Senator Robert A. Taft this morning in the New Hampshire primary--the nation's first. Senator Estes Kefauver, in the Democratic voting, paced ahead of President Truman.

At 3:30 this morning, the standing was: Eisenhower 34,179: Taft 26,597; Stassen 4,316; Schneider 153. The following did not officially appear on the ballot but were written in: Warren SS; MacArthur 2212; Bridges 11. For the Democrats: Kefauver 15,775; Truman 13,044. At 3 a.m. Kefauver claimed he had won.

Eisenhower's surge survived his defeat in some of the larger cities, and seemed likely to carry probably all of the 14 delegates to the Republican National Convention running for him. Likewise, Kefauver will probably receive eight candidates to the Democratic Convention.

Although Eisenhower was getting almost 50 percent of the popular vote, he was making no such sweep over Taft as his followers earlier had predicted. Taft was getting 41 percent of the vote. Stassen six percent, and MacArthur three percent.

Surprisingly, Eisenhower appeared more appealing to rural voters than to those in the larger cities. Taft, to the contrary, received little strength from rural areas, traditionally regarded as more conservative.

Kefauver obtained support in both urban and rural sections. In Manchester and Nashua. Kefauver made sweeping gains, despite the fact that labor leaders backed Truman.

Among the Democrats there was a rash of write-ins on the preferential ballot. Among those who got votes were James A. Farley, Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles, MacArthur, Taft, Adlai E. Stevenson, Paul H. Douglas, Stassen, and Earl Warren. These counted only a small percentage of the total.

First reporting precincts gave Eisenhower a slight lead over Taft, with Stassen and MacArthur picking up a few scattered votes. On the Democratic side. Kefauver had a very slight edge over Truman.

Eisenhower held his early lead until the larger cities were tabulated. Then Taft went far into the lead. When the city of Manchester, New Hampshire's largest, counted, Taft picked up almost 800 votes to go ahead of Eisenhower by 3656 to 3132.

Taft lost this, however, when more rural counties were tabulated.

Throughout the counting, Kefauver held a consistent lead over Truman. First reporting counties gave Kefauver six votes to Truman's five. Even with the larger cities. Truman was unable to pick up enough votes to overrun Kefauver.