In a few days the debates, charges, counter-charges, fund-raisers, attack ads, photo-ops and press conferences will be over.

Tuesday, Nov. 7 is Election Day and at 9:00 p.m., the polls will close on the U.S. Senate and Presidential Campaigns.

In New York, either First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton or Congressman Rick Lazio will prepare to fill the Senate seat vacated by the retirement of the venerable statesman, author, scholar and philosopher, Daniel Patrick Monyihan.

Mrs. Clinton started listening tours more than a year ago after realizing that serving as first lady to the governor and then the president was adequate preparation for the U.S. Senate. There are some who believe she is not qualified, but having served in Congress for 11 years, and after being elected as a political novice, I believe her to be very qualified.

The first lady is brilliant, has excellent people skills, and a very keen political mind. She has served on the board of groups like the Children’s Defense Fund, and is compassionate on issues impacting family life. Additionally, because of her high visibility, she will find immediate acceptance among her colleagues.

Star quality and power make a difference. If she is elected, New York will finally remove the yoke of not having elected a woman to state-wide office.

However, Rick Lazio is not to be taken lightly. I served three terms on the U.S. House of Representatives Banking Committee with him. I even preached for his Congressional district prayer breakfast one year. As chairman of the sub-committee on housing he often broke rank with his Republican colleagues and sought alternatives to some of the legislation that would have been deleterious to families.

Representative Lazio is often under-estimated because of his boyish looks and gentle smile. But he is much stronger than he looks as Mrs. Clinton has learned during the debates.

I have endorsed Mrs. Clinton because it is my belief that New York needs some- one of her stature to bring attention to the issues that must be addressed in the next Congressional session.

In the presidential election, we the people will exercise our suffrage by electing Vice President Al Gore or Governor George W. Bush to be the next president of the United States.

Ordinarily, when the nation is enjoying this kind of economic prosperity, the vice president would be the prohibitive choice for his replacement.

Vice President Al Gore has spent two terms helping shape the economic policy, ridding the government of waste, downsized departments that were too large and devised programs for community development. But Al Gore’s dream of an election night victory may turn into a nightmare.

Governor George W. Bush, who was initially perceived as a lightweight, has proven that he learned not to make the same mistakes of his father in his ill-fated campaign of 1992. Bush realized that after Desert Storm, his father’s poll numbers indicated that he was unbeatable. However, when the election results were final, Clinton was the new president.

It would appear that Bush is positioning himself to get even.

To make Al Gore suffer in the same way his father did — an ignominious loss in the face of a probable victory.

Bush has stood tall in the debates and has not been rattled as much as was expected by the knowledge and experience that Al Gore brings to the battle. He has acquitted himself so well that most polls have him in the lead or near the margin of error, poised for victory.

The campaign has become much more intense and the call has gone out from Democrats for the vice president to call in the president to energize the party faithful and get out the vote on Election Day.

Although Gore has been reluctant to accept the request or accept the president’s offer, he now finds himself in a desperate situation. Even with what he considers the president’s baggage, or the possibility of being overshadowed, it would appear that it’s a chance he’ll have to take.