Forget South Carolina. Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) collected a victory yesterday that may be just as important as any primary -- the Washington & Lee University mock convention in Lexington, Va.

After months of painstaking, state-by-state research, the hundreds of students who put on the quadrennial event picked Dole as the Republican presidential nominee in a raucous bunting-and-balloon-filled gymnasium. One of the nation's oldest and most prestigious mock conventions, the university simulation has proved a remarkably accurate forecaster in modern times.

"I accept your nomination," a happy Dole told the students by telephone after the vote.

Since 1908, Washington & Lee has correctly chosen the nominee of the out-of-power party 15 of 20 times; the mock convention has been wrong only once since 1948. It is highly regarded by national leaders, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), Republican National Chairman Haley Barbour, former vice president Dan Quayle and former education secretary William J. Bennett, all of whom addressed this year's convention, which was broadcast live on C-Span.

In yesterday's tabulation, Dole racked up 1,257 delegates to 379 for Patrick J. Buchanan, 169 for Malcolm S. "Steve" Forbes Jr. and 82 for Lamar Alexander. The students then nominated retired general Colin L. Powell as Dole's running mate.