Politics

15 Races Worth Watching

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 19, 1998 / 11:08 AM EDT / CBS

Here's a look at 15 noteworthy elections around the nation. There are five House, five Senate and five gubernatorial contests.

House Races

Wisconsin 2 Liberal Democratic State Rep. Tammy Baldwin is matched against former state Insurance Commissioner Josephine Musser in this battle for an open seat being vacated by retiring GOP Rep. Scott Klug. The winner will become Wisconsin's first woman in Congress. Baldwin, a lesbian, has played down her sexual orientation with a series of suburban coffee klatches and warm-and-fuzzy TV commercials. The GOP believes Musser, a moderate who supports abortion rights, is the party's strongest possible candidate. She spent $250,000 of her own money to defeat more conservative male rivals in the GOP primary. Baldwin has made health care her No. 1 issue and is attempting to paint Musser as a pawn of the insurance industry.

Idaho 1 Can a Democrat be elected to Congress in deeply Republican northern Idaho? Boise attorney Dan Williams is trying to do just that in a rematch with conservative GOP incumbent Helen Chenoweth. Chenoweth should be a safe bet for re-election, but her opinions get her into hot water with surprising regularity. The Congresswoman once said blacks and Hispanics, whom she described as the "warm-weather community," don't move to northern Idaho because it's too cold. Chenoweth's attempt to exploit the White House sex scandal with TV commercials exploded in her face when a local newspaper revealed her own six-year affair with a married man. Chenoweth says God has forgiven her for the dalliance. Will the voters?

North Carolina 2 The GOP hopes to grab this traditionally Democratic Raleigh-area district, which moved into the Republican column in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections. Freshman Democratic Rep. Bob Etheridge recently took out a political insurance policy by voting with the Republicans for an open-ended impeachment inquiry of President Clinton. Etheridge's GOP foe, State Sen. Dan Page, attempted to exploit the sex scandal with an early TV ad linking Clinton and Etheridge. He has also called for Clinton's resignation and wonders aloud whether Etheridge has the "character" to do the same. Etheridge has dismissed Page as a "skunk" and vows to stick to the issues. Etheridge holds a big edge in campaign contributions. A Democratic defeat here could signal large GOP gains in the House.

California 46 It's the most expensive House race in the nation, with the two candidates pulling in a combined total of $6.4 million. Conservative firebrand Bob Dornan, 65, is challenging freshman Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, 38, in this Orange County rematch. Sanchez ousted Dornan, a nine-term incumbent, by 987 votes in 1996. Dornan, who believes character is the No. 1 issue in the race, has hammered away at his opponent's support for abortion rights. He even put a picture of the Virgin of Guadlupe on the cover of an anti-abortion mailer in an effort to appeal to the district's Catholic Latino voters. "The Clinton administration will drag her down like a lead zeppelin," predicts Dornan's campaign manager. Sanchez has stuck to bread-and-butter Democratic issues like Social Security and health care. She held a 16-point lead over Dornan in a recent poll, but with more than one-third of the voters still undecided, the seat is still up for grabs.

Washington 1 Former Rep. Jay Inslee is trying to recapture this highly competitive district for the Democrats by attacking GOP Rep. Rick White's support for an open-ended impeachment inquiry of President Clinton. In an effort to cash in on a possible impeachment backlash, an Inslee television ad asserts that White's vote will "drag us through months and months of more mud and politics." The Democrats say a new poll shows Inslee has pulled even with White since the ad began running. A White aide dismisses the survey as a "phony poll." Bruce Craswell is back in the race as the candidate of the American Heritage Party. Craswell, a conservative Christian, will draw some votes from White. Most district voters live in the suburbs north of Seattle. It is almost evenly divided between Democrats, Republicans, and independent voters.

Senate Races

New York Pass the brass knuckles. Veteran GOP incumbent Al D'Amato faces a strong challenge from Democratic Congressman Chuck Schumer. Both are political street fighters with plenty of cash. And both have been airing negative TV commercials from the opening gun. Both politicians are using "L" words. Schumer says D'Amato is a liar. D'Amato calls Schumer a liberal, an "L" word that resonates with upstate voters. The nastiest Senate race in the nation? Sure.

North Carolina When GOP incumbent Lauch Faircloth took office in 1993, he declared that Jesse Helms was now North Carolina's liberal senator. Faircloth is locked in a tight race with Democratic trial lawyer John Edwards. Since Faircloth refuses to debate, the wealthy foes have so far fired TV commercials at one another. Faircloth, a former hog farmer, is making much of the fact that Edwards is an attorney. He has gone negative with ads that accuse Edwards of stretching the truth. Edwards has stuck mainly to the issues. The Democrat pulled even with Faircloth in a recent poll. The GOP senator's support was below 50 percent in the poll, a dangerous sign for an incumbent.

California After trailing for most of the race, Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer took a slight lead over Republican challenger Matt Fong in a recent Los Angeles Times poll. Boxer has spent heavily on TV commercials, including one that paints Fong as a tool of the gun lobby. Fong has attempted to position himself as the moderate in the race, but a Boxer TV onslaught has painted him as an extremist. For months, Boxer's job approvarating has been below 50 percent, a bad sign for an incumbent. But her approval rating inched up to 51 percent in the Times poll. The national GOP has made Boxer its No. 1 Democratic target in the Senate.

South Carolina Sen. Ernest Hollings is a vulnerable Democratic incumbent running against the South's steady shift to the GOP. But Hollings is more than holding his own against his Republican rival, Congressman Bob Inglis. Hollings, a 32-year Senate veteran, energetically campaigned last summer while Inglis largely sat on his hands. The result was improved poll numbers for Hollings. Hollings has hammered away at bread-and-butter Democratic issues: education, Social Security, and health care. Still, South Carolina, with the Confederate flag flying over its State Capitol, is a conservative bastion. Hollings holds a narrow lead in the latest polls and has a substantial advantage in campaign cash. Inglis refuses to take PAC money.

Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun looks to be the weakest Democratic incumbent up for re-election. Controversies involving campaign spending, her personal life, and visits with a Nigerian dictator have damaged her standing with the voters. (A spokesman says she dropped in on Nigerian strongman Sani Abache to persuade him to be more democratic.) In a recent television ad, Moseley-Braun apologized to the voters for past mistakes. GOP State Sen. Peter Fitzgerald is leading in the polls and is expected to win. Moseley-Braun has hit Fitzgerald's conservative views on abortion. Fitzgerald accuses her of being "soft on criminals" and voting against tax cuts.

Gubernatorial Races

Maryland Democratic Gov. Parris Glendening is in a virtual tie in his rematch with Republican challenger Ellen Sauerbrey, according to a recent poll. The Clinton scandal has seen Glendening do more head-spinning than Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Last month, the governor canceled a fund-raiser with Clinton and became a no-show at the president's appearance at a Maryland school. He declared the president to be a poor role model. This month, a smiling Glendening shook hands with Clinton at a Maryland school. "We are proud of you," he said. Sauerberry, who lost to Glendening by fewer than 6,000 votes in 1994, is running a bread-and-butter GOP campaign that emphasizes tax-cutting and fiscal responsibility.

Massachusetts Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 3-1 in Massachusetts, but GOP Acting Gov. Paul Cellucci held a narrow lead over his Democratic rival, state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, in a recent polls. Cellucci, who replaced the popular William Weld as governor, has so far outmaneuvered his Democratic foe. One of his gambits is to demand that Harshbarger sign a "no new taxes" pledge. Harshbarger has refused. Cellucci emerged a clear winner in the first debate between the two men, but Harshbarger performed much etter in their second encounter. A third debate degenerated into a shouting match. The Democrat is now taking a negative tack by focusing on $700,000 in personal debts that Cellucci has run up. Cellucci's opponent in the GOP primary tried to exploit the same issue without success. The election is expected to be very close.

California This is the No. 1 race in the 1998 election. Democratic Lt. Gov. Gray Davis grabbed a 14-point lead over the GOP state Attorney General Dan Lungren in a recent poll. Lungren has aggressively portrayed Davis as soft on crime, but the ideological differences between these moderates are small enough to make staking out a clear difference difficult for both men. Davis has warded off Lungren's assault by citing his own crime-fighting record and by wrapping himself in the American flag. The Vietnam veteran's military experience is highlighted in his TV ads and a trio of veterans accompanied Davis at the press conferences that followed his debates with Lungren. The lieutenant governor, who has made relatively few public appearances in recent weeks, is successfully waging a cautious campaign aimed at avoiding major mistakes.

Alabama GOP Gov. Fob James is in trouble. Most polls show his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Don Siegelman, with a double-digit lead. James is a favorite of Christian conservatives, a potent political force in the South. The governor once threatened to call out the National Guard to defend the right of a local judge to display the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. And, he has been in the forefront of the fight to bring prayer into public schools. But James may be undone by an old-fashioned vice. Siegelman has made gambling the centerpiece of his campaign. He favors a statewide lottery to fund education, a position supported by 61 percent of Alabamans. Money from gambling interests has also flowed into Siegleman's campaign coffers, helping to give the Democrat a substantial financial advantage over James.

Colorado Democratic governors are an endangered species in the Rocky Mountains. Colorado's Roy Romer is the only Democratic chief executive in the seven-state region, and he's stepping down. Republican Bill Owens, the state treasurer, and Democrat Gail Schoettler, the lieutenant governor, are vying to replace Romer in a surprisingly close race. Recent polls show the race to be close. Owens began the race as a heavy favorite based on the GOP's edge in voter registration and a large campaign war chest, but his candidacy has failed to pick up steam. Schoettler, who campaigned on horseback during the Democratic primary, appears to have been at least partially successful in painting Owens as the candidate of special interests. With many Colorado voters still undecided, the race is up for grabs.