PRESIDENT Clinton's lead over his opponent, the former senator, Mr Bob Dole, is narrowing as the White House fights back against a deluge of bad publicity.
But Mr Dole is having his own troubles with influential conservative Christian groups who are urging him to take a stronger antiabortion stance. The Christian Coalition says it expects him to select "an aggressively and confidently conservative pro life and pro family running mate".
Mr Dole is so far refusing to make the abortion issue the main criterion for his choice of running mate. He has angered pro life groups by insisting there will be a "tolerance" clause in the Republican policy plank on abortion for the election next November.
The good news for Mr Dole from two polls published this week is that he is closing the 20 point gap with President Clinton. The Washington Post ABC poll shows 54 per cent for Clinton and 40 per cent up seven points for Mr Dole.
The USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll shows voting intentions at 54 per cent to 39 per cent, an improvement of 4 per cent for Mr Dole. Mr Clinton's approval rating in this poll has fallen from 58 per cent to 52 per cent.
It would be surprising if the succession of blows to the White House in recent weeks arising from the FBI files scandal and a series of "insider" books did not affect the President's ratings. These events have allowed the Republicans to hammer home the "character" issue as the best way to attack Mr Clinton, whose social policies are seen as more popular.
Mrs Hillary Clinton, who is on a visit to eastern Europe, is not faring well in the polls either. For the first time a majority (53 per cent) believe she did something "illegal" in the complex Whitewater affair, but two out of three say the media are giving it too much attention.
Meanwhile the administration is taking credit for the arrest of 13 members of an Arizona paramilitary group charged with conspiracy to blow up a number of federal buildings and the Phoenix police department.
They are also charged with illegal possession of automatic rifles and chemicals that can be used to make bombs, including ammonium nitrate. This was the substance used in the Oklahoma City bombing last year, and one of the suspects charged with that outrage, Mr Timothy McVeigh, lived in Arizona before the blast. But officials are not so far linking the two cases.