THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996              TAG: 9610240512
SECTION: VOTER GUIDE             PAGE: V1   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Special Section
Voter Guide covering the candidates and campaign issues in the races for
President, U.S. Senator from Virginia, and area Representatives
SERIES: DECISION '96
SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:   60 lines

IN THE END, WHO GETS THE JOB IS YOUR DECISION YOU WILL CHOOSE NOV. 5 BETWEEN TWO VISIONS OF THE FUTURE, BETWEEN TWO MEN WHO WANT TO BE PRESIDENT. YOU WILL ALSO CHOOSE AMONG A NUMBER OF OTHER APPLICANTS SEEKING JOBS THAT WILL SHAPE THIS COUNTRY.

Is the economy as rosy as it looks, or is it going into the tank before our eyes?

Would Americans be willing to trade a great many government services for a substantial tax cut? Would that tax cut boost the economy, or enlarge the budget deficit?

Are either the Republicans or the Democrats likely to address racial tensions or the nation's growing wage gap?

You will choose Nov. 5 between two visions of the future, held by two men who want to be president. You'll choose among a number of other job applicants who have some influence over those questions, too.

The pollsters and the media pundits and the campaign consultants have put their spin on it, but the ultimate power is yours. ``The only poll that counts is the one after the polls have closed,'' former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder once said.

How far apart are these visions? Which is likely to take the country in the right direction? That's your decision.

All your choices, from the U.S. Senate right down to the soil and water conservation districts in some cities, are addressed in the following pages.

One has received the most attention.

The presidential contest isn't over, and likely will get tighter as Nov. 5 approaches, but Republican challenger Bob Dole needs all the grit of his native Kansas this year.

Perennial campaigner Bill Clinton, whether by luck or design, is riding the crest of an apparently thriving economy and a succession of policy moves that planted him squarely in the center of the American political spectrum.

Thanks to legislation from a Republican Congress, Clinton virtually abolished an unpopular welfare system. He looked presidential in his handling of a Middle East crisis. The Whitewater scandal, which loomed like a thundercloud over the White House earlier this year, hasn't produced any lightning bolts yet.

Dole took bold steps to swing the momentum his way. He left the Senate to show his willingness to sacrifice. He proposed an across-the-board 15 percent tax cut, apparently in an instant conversion to the supply-side economics he had long opposed. He named a popular, moderate Republican and former pro football player, Jack Kemp, as his running mate.

But Dole lives in an era of politics dominated by polls, and they have shown him consistently trailing Clinton by 15-20 points.

As a result, Bob Dole can't buy media exposure. Network news coverage of this year's campaign is down 60 percent from 1992, one study found, and newspaper coverage isn't much better.

And yet the campaign is about serious things, questions you have to answer. No matter what the polls say, you decide who should have the job.

KEYWORDS: PRESIDENTIAL RACE 1996 SPECIAL SECTIONS

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