Crucial primaries for Bush, Gore today

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JAN. 31. Front runners in the Republican and Democratic parties are leaving no stone unturned as they try to pull off a victory in the critical New Hampshire primaries of Tuesday.

If the latest polls are anything to go by, the front runner in the Grand Old Party, Mr. George W. Bush, is still being hotly pursued by Senator John McCain, and in the Democratic camp, at least one poll is suggesting that the Vice-President, Mr. Albert Gore, is pulling ahead of his nearest rival, Mr. Bill Bradley. But the last word on this has not been said.

What has been noticed in the last day or so is that both Mr. Gore and Mr. Bradley have sharpened their attacks as they try to jostle for votes from within the party and from the independents. The latest surveys have shown that the Vice- President has narrowed the gap in two areas where he was supposed to have been weaker and ones that were working to the advantage of the former New Jersey Senator - men and independent voters.

Mr. Bradley has been taking on the Vice-President in at least one sensitive area - campaign fund raising. The bottomline of Mr. Bradley is that Mr. Gore has a lot of answering to do in this subject where since 1996 he has been in the centre of an ongoing controversy.

Although Mr. Bradley has not specifically referred to the dubious donations from a Los Angeles Buddhist temple and over allegations that the White House was improperly used to raise funds for the party, the point has been put across that unless the Vice- President comes up with answers, the Republicans would start hammering away. Needless to say, this has annoyed Mr. Gore.

Political analysts are making the point that if the main challengers to the establishment candidates in the two parties do not deliver the goods on Tuesday, much of their momentum will be lost along the way.

This is especially true for Mr. Bradley who simply ``has'' to do well in New Hampshire to stay on in the race. On the contrary, continuing with a six- person field, there would not be as much pressure on Mr. McCain even if he were to come second in the GOP pack on Tuesday when the results are announced.

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