It is a mistake to accept the idea that Gorbachev is a foreign-policy moderate beset by conservative rivals.

Also, several of the front-runner's more conservative rivals were campaigning hard to stop him making it three wins in a row.

But the move may win him support in his quest for the Republican Presidential nomination at the expense of his more conservative rivals.

"They say they're winning the war of ideas," he said in a telephone interview, referring to his conservative rivals.

He defeated his conservative rival from the Arena party which had previously won every election since El Salvador's civil war ended in 1992.

The ideological gap between these men and their conservative rivals has become all but imperceptible.

The election night returns showed her losing to her conservative rival, Helen Wursta, by only ten votes.

Mr. Bazin, a conservative rival, placed a distant second.

Meanwhile, all of Limbaugh's conservative rivals have skyrocketed while taking none of his audience.

His conservative rival, Patrick J. Buchanan, has made no significant effort here, where 19 delegates are at stake.