With just five days left to polling day, the US presidential election stays tantalisingly close as the two main candidates followed each other around crucial mid-west states.
Governor George Bush is maintaining his narrow lead in four national polls but within the margin of error, so the race is seen as a technical dead heat.
The news released last night by the Bush campaign that he was arrested in 1976, when he was 30, for drunken driving and had his driving license suspended after drinking several beers in a bar, came as a shock but it was too soon to say what effect it would have on his prospects. He paid a $150 fine.
In the individual states, the outcome is even more uncertain as the candidates battle for the electoral college votes necessary to get them to the White House. The 50 states have 538 electoral votes between them depending on their populations so a candidate needs 270 to win the election.
The latest Reuters survey shows Mr Bush with 217 votes "solid or leaning towards him" compared with 215 for Mr Gore. Another 106 votes in 12 states are "too close to call". Five of these are in the mid-west where Mr Gore and Mr Bush campaigned yesterday, criticising each other's policies.
Meanwhile, responding to appeals from Democrats in California, President Clinton flew there yesterday to try and ensure that the state with 54 electoral votes does not slip away from Mr Gore. His 13-point lead of a month ago has been cut to seven points according to the Field Poll which has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
This is too close for comfort for Mr Gore, who will lose the election he if fails in California. Both he and Mr Bush campaigned in the state earlier this week.
Green Party candidate Mr Ralph Nader is popular in California and his four per cent in the polls could endanger Mr Gore. The former consumer interests advocate is also eating into traditional Democratic votes in other states such as Washington, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.
This has alarmed many of Mr Nader's own supporters who believe that Mr Gore has a much better record on environmental issues than Mr Bush whose state of Texas has some of the worst pollution levels in the country.
Environmentalists are now being joined by other interest groups such as labour unions, gays and abortion right advocates in demanding that Mr Nader should step aside in closely contested states where he could throw the election to Mr Bush. This has only strengthened Mr Nader's determination to stay in the race while he deplores what he sees as the treachery of former supporters. Some Republican groups, delighted at the inroads by Mr Nader into the traditional Democratic base, are running ads in key states encouraging people to vote for Mr Nader.
The president of the Environmental Working Group, Mr Ken Cook, said it was "ludicrous" for Mr Nader to claim there was no difference between the major candidates.
In a letter to Mr Nader, Mr Cook warned that a Bush victory would bring "excruciating consequences" for the public interest community.
"Virtually everything the environmental community has achieved over the past 30 years could be at stake," Mr Cook said.
The president of the United Steelworkers of America, Mr George Becker, has told Mr Nader, whom he admires and calls an ally, that any advances made in workers' rights, achieving a living wage or eliminating corporate influence in government would be reversed if Mr Bush wins the election.
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