Into The Home Stretch

Half a dozen key Senate races were neck and neck Sunday as the campaign for state and congressional elections that could determine President Clinton's political future entered its final 48 hours.

Thirty-four Senate seats, 36 governorships and all 435 seats in the House were at stake in Tuesday's mid-term elections, which some have cast as a referendum on whether Clinton should be impeached but others see as an election without any real issues.

Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato was in a dead heat with Rep. Charles Schumer in the nastiest race of the year, the New York Senate campaign. Schumer had a small lead in polls last week.

In California, Republican Matt Fong was almost tied with Sen. Barbara Boxer in a new San Francisco Examiner poll. Last week, polls had shown Boxer pulling away.

Other Senate races that could go either way included Kentucky, North Carolina, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Democrats seemed poised to win the greatest single prize of the election by capturing the governorship of California. But Republicans had an excellent chance to gain Florida, Georgia and Colorado to add to the 32 states they already control.

Republicans, who have a big money advantage over Democrats, launched a series of advertisements in key congressional districts last week, arguing that Clinton ought to be punished for lying to the American people about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

But Clinton's behavior has been virtually a non-factor in a campaign that has failed to stir most voters and has been fought mainly on state and local issues.

"That issue (the Lewinsky scandal) hasn't been an issue in a single Senate race with which I'm familiar. It's been a no-show," said Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, chairman of his party's senatorial campaign committee.

Still, big Republican pickups would undoubtedly add impetus to the drive to impeach Clinton on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, while minimal gains would allow Democrats to argue that voters do not want months of hearings on Lewinsky.

Even a gain of only two would give Republicans their largest majority in the Senate since the Congress of 1929-31.

Republicans currently control the Senate 55 to 45 and the House 228 to 206, with one independent.

Nebraska Sen. John Kerrey said it was still not impossible that Republicans would win five seat and gain a filibuster-proof Senate majority of 60 that would signal a major power shift.

"That's not impossible. The range of motion as I see it is between 40 and 45 (Democratic seats)," he said on CBS Face the Nation Sunday.

Kerry said that Democrats were having a tough time in this campaign because they did not raise as much money as their Republican counterparts.

Both parties expect a low turnout election and some experts have suggested participation could be the lowest since 1942, when only 35.7 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. That would help Republicans, whose voters seem slightly more motivated and tend to be better educated.

"We know this is going to be a low turnout election. The economy is good and the voters are content," said Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell.

"Content voters don't vote and angry voters do vote ... The question is, who turns out. Both parties are doing everything they can to energize their own supporters," he said on Face the Nation.

Although the party holding the White House has lost an average of 30 House seats in mid-term elections since 1930, its losses have been much lower when the economy has been strong and the president's job approval ratings have been high, as is the case this year.

The two most similar elections in that respect in recent history were in 1962, when the Democrats lost only four seats and 1986, when the Republicans lost five seats.

©1998 CBS Worldwide Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Reuters contributed to this report