WHILE the Republican contender, Mr Bob Dole, has again failed to best President Clinton in the face to face campaign debates, he is closing the gap in the opinion polls.
As Mr Dole went into the second and last debate with Mr Clinton in San Diego on Wednesday night, the USA Today CNN tracking poll showed that the gap between the two men had narrowed to nine points. It was a 21 point lead last Sunday and the fall in support for the President seems to be linked with Mr Dole's increasingly sharp attacks on the alleged "ethical" shortcomings of the White House.
Mr Dole repeatedly tried to raise these "scandals" during the debate, saying, "There's a great deal of cynicism out there." Mr Clinton ignored these efforts, saying at one stage, "I don't want to respond in kind to all these things. No attack ever created a job or educated a child."
The audience of 113 selected people was clearly uninterested in the personal attacks aspect of the election campaign and instead questioned the candidates on their concerns about the future of social security, Medicare for elderly people, and education.
Mr Clinton had an advantage here as these are issues where Democrats are seen as favouring more spending, while the Republicans are identified with cuts.
Following the debate, instant polls by ABC News, CBS and CNN indicated that viewers judged Mr Clinton to be the winner by a margin of two to one. The tactic by the President of refusing to respond to the "ethical" questions seemed to have paid off.
Most commentators now believe it will be impossible for Mr Dole to overtake Mr Clinton before the election on November 5th. A sporting metaphor increasingly heard is that the President just has to "sit on the ball and let the clock run out."
The economy has been booming under President Clinton and the Dow Jones Index topped 6000 for the first time this week. This has undermined Mr Dole's efforts to build his campaign around a 15 per cent tax cut.
The debates were seen as Mr Dole's main chance to close the persistent double digit gap in the opinion polls over the past six months. While Mr Dole (73) performed better than even his Democratic opponents expected, especially in the San Diego debate with its "town hall format", Mr Clinton came across as more in touch with ordinary people's concerns.
Increasing attention will now be paid to the elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate and whether the Republicans will lose control of Congress. In 1994, the Republicans won a majority in both chambers for the first time in 40 years. A landslide win for Mr Clinton could bring enough Democrats in on his coat tails to win a majority in both Houses.