The Nation - News from Feb. 1, 1985

Paul G. Kirk Jr., a lawyer with close ties to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), won a test vote of his front-running candidacy to be the next Democratic Party chairman. Kirk forces in the Democratic National Committee defeated, by a vote of 178.05 to 146.45, a proposal by his rivals to force immediate election of the 25 at-large members of the panel. The issue was actually a test of whether Kirk could muster a majority of the votes on the committee. Kirk is expected to be elected party chairman by the 378-member committee today, succeeding Charles T. Manatt.