Washington, Friday

IT has been a long campaign and the president is beginning to fray at

the edges. In a speech last night, Mr Bush attacked Mr Clinton's evasion

of the draft: ''You can't say I got an induction and then I didn't. You

can't say you wrote the man that once. You can't say that you're going

to have one position and then another position you got to stand up for.

Take a position. Lead. That's what being president is about. You cannot

lead by misleading.

''And here is my appeal. Barbara and I both have tried to uphold the

public trust. And character. Bill Clinton -- Bruce Willis mentioned

this. Bruce Willis said that, I mean Clinton said that it is not the

character of the president but the character of the presidency. Wrong.

They're locked in. They are interlocked.''

Mr Willis, the film star, has been appearing for Mr Bush, shouting to

crowds that Mr Clinton is unfit to be president and that ''I'm pissed

off.'' Sometimes he uses stronger language.

Mr Bush is almost as intemperate. He calls Senator Al Gore, the

Democratic candidate for vice-president, ''Ozone Man'' which he explains

thus: ''You know why I call him Ozone Man? This guy is so far out in the

environmental extreme, we'd be up to our necks in owls and outta work

for every American. He's way out, far out, man.'' He also says; ''My dog

Millie knows more about foreign affairs than those two bozos.''

Mr Bush's incoherence has long been a rather endearing characteristic.

Vice-president Dan Quayle is also inclined to wander off into the wide

azure, particularly when ambushed by something difficult.

But these personal attacks on Mr Clinton are something else.

At the same time, the Bush-Quayle campaign is broadcasting a large

number of flagrantly dishonest attack commercials, accusing the

Democrats of every imaginable sin, very often asserting matters that are

flatly untrue.

A few weeks ago, both sides tacitly agreed that negative campaigning

was a mistake, that the electorate disliked it. Now the Republicans, in

the last few days, are returning to negativism with a vengeance -- and

the Democrats are trying to keep up with aggressive counter-advertising.

Meanwhile, the opinion polls continue to confuse and worry both sides.

The Gallup Poll of ''likely'' voters has brought Mr Clinton's lead down

to just 1%: Clinton 41%, Bush 40%, and Perot 14%. The same organisation,

polling registered voters, shows Mr Clinton at 42%, Mr Bush at 36% and

Mr Perot at 16%. It is all a question of how many people will vote: the

higher the turnout, this time, the better for the Democrats.

Another poll of likely voters has Mr Clinton leading by nine points,

44% to 35%, and several other polls, of registered voters, show a

similar spread. A poll in California shows Mr Clinton at 45%, Mr Bush at

29% and Mr Perot at 23%.

It is all most confusing, but if there is a trend, it seems to be away

from Mr Perot (except in California), with his voters moving more

frequently towards the president than Mr Clinton.

In 1980, a week before the election, the polls still showed Jimmy

Carter and Ronald Reagan running neck and neck, but over the last

weekend, there was a big swing away from the president. It was so clear,

that the night before the election, Mr Carter's poll-taker was able to

tell him that he had definitely lost.

Picture/AP