With his name well known statewide and with the support of most of the state Democratic organizations, he polled 70 percent of the vote in a three-candidate race in the June primary.

Last November this former University of Pittsburgh quarterback was elected to a ninth term in the House, winning more than 50 percent of the vote in a three-candidate race.

And there was also the victory of State Senator Carl Andrews, a longtime confidante of Mr. Norman's who won with nearly two-thirds of the vote in a three-candidate race.

The initial primary was a three-candidate race which resulted in a primary runoff between Davis and former Tupelo Mayor Glenn McCullough.

A three-candidate race increases the likelihood that a state delegation could not find a majority for any one, and thus could not vote.

Nelson fell to third place in 1953, receiving 1,365 votes (27.90%) in a three-candidate race.

He won his first race for the council, then known as the police jury, in the fall of 1995, with 51 percent of the vote in a three-candidate all Democratic race.

In 1979, he ran as a Democrat for the 10th District Senate seat and finished second in a three-candidate race with 9,897 votes (26 percent).

But in a three-candidate race, he lost the primary by a 54-vote margin to Seretta McKnight, an upstart who is president of the Roosevelt School Board.

And in Washington Heights in Manhattan, Miguel Martinez prevailed handily in a three-candidate race.