Vice-President Al Gore and Mr George Bush have sharpened their attacks on each other as polls show that they are level-pegging in the Presidential election stakes for next November.
Both candidates will have virtually no opposition in the primary elections held in six southern states today following the withdrawals of their rivals, former senator Bill Bradley, and Senator John McCain. The primaries in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi and Oklahoma will still go ahead although a minimal turn-out is expected.
The results of what is now being called "Stupid Tuesday" instead of "Super Tuesday" will allocate further delegates to Mr Gore and Mr Bush who are assured of their parties' nomination at the Democratic and Republican conventions next August.
Opinion polls show that Mr Bush has lost his previous lead over Mr Gore now that voters know they will be opposing each other in the November election. Mr Gore appears to have picked up support from moderate and independent voters who had supported Mr McCain.
As further details of funding abuses connected with Mr Gore's 1996 campaign emerged from a confidential Department of Justice report leaked to some newspapers, the Vice-President decided to make a virtue of necessity and has renewed his challenge to Mr Bush to embrace campaign finance reform.
Mr Bush ridiculed the call, saying that "I think the Vice-President is someone who will say anything to get elected. The more he talks about campaign funding reform, the better off it will be for my campaign."
Mr Gore for the first time in this campaign referred to his notorious visit in 1996 to a Buddhist temple in California where thousands of dollars were raised from the monks and nuns. One of his aides who organised the visit, Ms Maria Hsia, was found guilty recently on several counts of breaking the electoral funding laws.
In an interview with the New York Times Mr Gore said: "I made a mistake going to that Buddhist temple, I made a mistake in making calls from my office, and I have learned from those mistakes."
His commitment to reform has been "fuelled" in part because of the pain of those mistakes, he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Bush is reaching out to Mr McCain, whose support he hopes to win for his election campaign so that he can attract the vital independent voters who flocked to the Arizona senator during the primary elections.
Relations are still strained between the two men following a contest marked by negative TV advertising and sharp exchanges.
Mr McCain is taking some time off before returning to the Senate and has said he will not release the delegates he won during the campaign to Mr Bush. This may be a means of pressure on Mr Bush to adopt the election finance reform which was a centrepiece of Mr McCain's campaign, but there is still a large gap between the two men on this issue.