Brown also avoided openly criticizing hisopponents, saying Clinton was "one heck of acompetitor, there's no doubt about it."
The candidates' niceties marked a sharp changein tone from the bruising campaign barbs tradedduring the past two weeks.
Voter apathy was high and turnout in New Yorkwas low, as expected. About one million votes werecast, far less than the 1.57 million cast fouryears ago. Part of the reason for the low turnoutmay be widespread voter dissatisfaction with thechoices available, as exit polls indicated. NBCreported that 66 percent of New York Democratssaid they wanted a new candidate to enter therace.
Despite the low turnout, Clinton said theelection marked "a turning point, not for BillClinton, but for the Democratic party and forAmerica."
Clinton, in his victory speech, quotedextensively from Robert F. Kennedy, and urgedcampaign supporters, as Kennedy did in his 1968campaign, to "say a prayer" for the nation and thecampaign.
"Say a prayer that we will have the strengthand the wisdom to stay our course," Clinton said.
Democratic Party Chair Ron Brown praised bothClinton and Tsongas in an appearance on ANN,calling New York a success for both.
Republican Chair Rich Bond, however, saw theNew York results as "a huge victory for PaulTsongas and a big setback for Bill Clinton." Bondcalled the election "a big win for thebroker-convention crowd," suggesting that othermajor Democrats like House Majority Leader RichardGerhardt of Missouri and New York Gov. Mario Cuomowere standing by, waiting to jump in the race.
Clinton picked up 162 delegates yesterday,giving him 1263 total, while Tsongas earned 100for a total of 575 and Brown won 99 for a total of265.