November 4, 1992

Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas recaptured for his party yesterday the Democrats who had fled to Ronald Reagan, and he made strong inroads into what had been Republican strongholds in the suburbs and among voters who label themselves moderates and independents. In general, according to interviews with voters as they left the polls, President Bush lost the groups that Mr. Reagan had won over and that had remained with Mr. Bush in 1988. More than half the Democrats who said they voted for Mr. Bush last time voted for Mr. Clinton this time.

The Treasury announced yesterday that it would sell $11.25 billion in current 10-year notes next week in an effort to eliminate a serious shortage of the security. This is the first time the Treasury has used its authority to sell additional securities of the same issue to combat such a shortage, which has sharply driven up the cost for trading in the 10-year note that was auctioned last August and could disrupt the market.

The entrepreneurial urge is stirring again in John Wyatt. The 47-year-old computer expert founded his first business two decades ago, has since worked for a handful of companies large and small and now thinks the time is ripe for another start-up. So with a promising product, two colleagues and cluttered office space above his garage in Chapel Hill, N.C., he has founded a new computer software company, Easy Entry Software.

The Caldor Corporation, a big discount retailer in the Northeast, made a bid yesterday to acquire and reopen 6 of 11 Alexander's department stores in the New York metropolitan area. The bid competes with one by Bradlees Inc., another discount chain, for the properties of the 64-year-old bankrupt retailer. The size of the Caldor bid was not disclosed in short statements by Caldor and Alexander's Inc. issued after 5 P.M. yesterday. But Alexander's said that the new bid would exceed the Bradlees bid by about $5 million in "present value," as required last month of any future bidder by the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, which is supervising Alexander's affairs.

Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas was elected the 42d President of the United States yesterday, breaking a 12-year Republican hold on the White House. Mr. Clinton shattered the Republicans' political base with a promise of change to an electorate clearly discontented with President Bush.