U.S. poll campaigns on low key

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

NEW YORK, APRIL 30. Presidential elections in this country are a full six months away; in fact, it may not be an exaggeration to say that the Republican and the Democratic campaigns are not in full gear. While some of this may have to do with the other high profile stories doing the rounds in the media on a national scale, a lot has also to do with the tame manner in which the primaries came to an end. If there was some excitement, it was only in the Republican camp, for after an initial burst of activity, the campaign of Mr. Bill Bradley within the Democratic Party simply folded up without even having one State to show for it.

Six months down the road, no one is yet talking about winners and losers, although the major parties have their wish list. The Democrats want to retain control of the White House and get the majority in the House of Representatives. Getting the control of the Senate - where the Grand Old Party now has a 10- seat majority - may be a grand dream that cannot be achieved this time around.

The GOP also knows what it wants - most definitely the White House. The question is, whether the party leaders would want the White House and retain control of Congress as well. Traditionally, the point has been made that a President whose party controls Congress does not do well legislatively. And historically, there will be those who will make the point that the American electorate believes in the system of checks and balances - that is, between the Executive and the Legislature.

But all these fancy arguments and thinking do not seem to be dominating the headlines, especially with an event that is still a long way off. For that matter, the public is being given a respite from opinion polls which not too long ago were released one after another. At this point, it suffices to say that the Vice-President, Mr. Albert Gore Jr. has ``caught up'' with the Texas Governor, Mr. George W. Bush. And November is too far away to say if this trend will be maintained.

The excitement about possible Vice-Presidential candidates has also not come to the level of daily reporting on the subject, although names are being thrown around. For now, all that the front-runners in the major parties would say is that search leaders have been formed to vet the potential candidates - the former Secretary of State, Mr. Warren Christopher, for Mr. Gore and the former Defence Secretary, Mr. Dick Cheney, for Mr. Bush.

In some ways, the focus is still in the Republican Party, especially in the run-up to its national convention in Philadelphia this July-August. At the national level, it is still in an interest on the kind of reconciliation meeting that is going to take place in Pittsburgh between Mr. Bush and Senator John McCain on May 9. After a perception that this meeting was off, it has now been announced by top aides to Mr. Bush and Senator McCain that it is on as scheduled.

One of the things that Senator McCain was supposed to be upset about was that the Bush camp was unwilling to talk about substantive issues in the forthcoming meeting.

Not too long ago at the State level, there was this heightened interest in New York where the popular Mayor, Mr. Rudy Giulliani, was confident of taking on the First Lady, Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton, for the Senate seat. As a result of last Thursday's announcement that Mr. Giulliani had the beginnings of prostrate cancer, a lot of doubt has been injected into this race and the campaign.

For the record, the Mayor says that he is still interested in the race, but a growing number of people within the GOP question whether he would have the political and the physical stamina to wage a sustained fight between now and November.

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