There were few surprises in yesterday's Super Tuesday contests as Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and President Bush triumphed, racking up landslide wins in every Southern state.

Meanwhile, former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas won his home state--with 67 percent of the vote at press time--as well as nearby Rhode Island, but fell short in Florida, where he had hoped to upset Clinton.

Patrick J. Buchanan, Bush's conservative challenger, gained significant percentages in most states, while former Louisiana state representative David Duke had mostly dismal showings in all election areas, including his home state.

Former California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. Saw his strongest showing here in New England, finishing ahead of Clinton in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Clinton finished especially strong in Florida, where the Democratic candidates spent much of their time in the final days before the election.

The Sunshine State tally was a disappointment for Tsongas, who hoped to bolster his image as a national candidate with a victory there. Clinton had earned 51 percent to Tsongas' 34 percent with most precincts reporting late last night.

Clinton had attacked Tsongas' record on social security and cost of living adjustments in the last few days, in an appeal to the large elderly population of the state.

None of the other six Southern states which held contests yesterday was considered a real competition. Tsongas could only hope to gain delegates in those states, which Clinton had a clear advantage in. All of the tant second in the seven southern statesholding elections yesterday.

"To all those people in the Democratic partywho are resisting change, get out of the way; theAmerican people coming," Tsongas said in a rallyat his Lowell, Mass. campaign headquarters.

There were no surprises in the Republicanprimaries, with Bush pulling a strong 69 percent.Conservative columnist Patrick J. Buchananfollowed with only 29 percent.

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke won 2percent of the vote statewide and in localballoting. In Cambridge 6 percent of the votestatewide and in local balloting. In Cambridge 6percent of voters expressed "no preference"compared to 4 percent across the state.

Gov. William F. Weld '66 called Bush's showingin the state was "adequate." But the Buchanan campstill expressed pleasure with the results.

"Mr. Bush still failed to garner more than thetraditional loyal vote for an incumbent," saidPaul Nagy, Buchanan's New England campaigndirector.

Neither Buchanan nor Bush made appearances inMassachusetts but Vice President Dan Quayle made acampaign stop in Boston yesterday.

While state pollsters were still tallying thefinal results, Cambridge returns were alreadycounted less than three hours after the pollsclosed. And the results closely mirrored thevoting trend across the Commonwealth.

According to the computer tabulation of pollvotes, Tsongas got more than twice the number ofvotes of closest challenger Brown. Tsongas rakedin 57 percent, followed by Brown with 23 percentand Clinton with 12 percent.

Cambridge's voting for the Republicancandidates also closely followed the tallies inthe state, with Bush at 62 percent and Buchanan at30 percent.

Compared to the rest of the Commonwealth,Cambridge's votes flocked to the polls yesterday,with 40 percent of its registered voters casting aballot. Only 33 percent of the state's votersoverall showed up at the polls.

In all, 16,875 Democrats and 1517 Republicansturned out to vote in Cambridge.

Although Brown's strong showing in the statewas surprising to many election pundits, CambridgeElection Commission officials expected itsaggressively democratic Cantabrigians to opt forBrown at the polls.

"Cambridge tends to be an aggressivelydemocratic vote, so there's no surprise at Tsongascoming in first and there's certainly no surpriseat Brown coming in second," said Sandy Scheir, aCambridge election commissioner.

Scheir, one of the two Democratic commissionersoverseeing the tallying at the Office ofInformational Technology, added that Tsongas had agood showing in the city and the state because ofthe "feeling of hurt" from the recession.

Republican Election Commissioner Artis B.Spears also was unsurprised by the performances ofany of her party's candidates, though she said sheactually expected Bush to pull a stronger leadover Buchanan.

Spears said that because of Cambridge'sdiversity, the outcome of any election is notpredictable.

"I cross all party lines when I vote," said46-year resident Mary A. Samp, a retired HarvardBusiness School employee whose husband is anelection commissioner. "I think what I do is whata lot of Cambridge people do-vote for people theyhave confidence in."Crimson GraphicNancy E. GreeneDelegate Count