News In Brief

Weekend votes strengthen Mondale presidential bid

Walter Mon-dale held the high ground Sunday in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination after notching three victories against his opponents. Mr. Mon-dale got a massive vote of confidence from the leaders of 80 unions, who preferred him to John Glenn. They voted by a majority of more than 90 percent to recommend that the rank and file of the AFL-CIO endorse Mondale as the ''labor candidate.''

Mondale also won 51 percent of the votes in a nonbinding straw poll in Maine. Alan Cranston came in second with 29 percent, and John Glenn, who is considered Mondale's main rival, only managed fourth place with 6 percent behind Ernest Hollings who won 11 percent. Mondale made a concerted effort to win the Maine poll, while John Glenn says he did not make an effort there. The poll was the last major test of grass-roots opinion before the start next February of the decisive series of state primaries and caucuses.

Mondale got another boost Friday from the nation's second-largest union, the National Education Association, which decided to back his candidacy.