But for the barrage of advertising on television and radio, there is little sign of electioneering (as we know it back home) anywhere across this vast country. Over the years, voter turnout in US polls has dropped steadily, plunging to an all-time low of 38.4 per cent in the 1996 Presidential election.

It is expected to drop even more on Tuesday, when the country has to elect a new House of Representatives and a whole lot of new Senators and Governors.

At stake in the polls is the entire 435-member Congress (currently having 228 Republicans, 206 Democrats and 1 Independent) which has to be re-elected every two years. Also up for grabs are 34 seats in the 100-member Senate (one-third of which goes to poll every two years) and 36 governorships of the 50 states.

TheAmerican electorate is generally incumbent-friendly and legislators are unseated less frequently than in the Indian system. It is not unusual to find many young Congressmen having served, say, five two-year terms.

Despite the massive hoopla over the sex scandal, Republican hopes of extending to a bigger margin their 228-206 majority in the House appears to be fading in the face of a stirring fight-back by grassroots, Democrats, staking out the electorate with an issue-bound campaign. Most polls indicate less than 10 per cent of the 435 House seats will be in play. Many Democrats are beginning to hope that they may even be able to reduce the 228-206 gap.

The Senate, where the GOP (or the Grand and Old Party, as Republicans are sometimes referred to) currently holds a 55-45 advantage, offers a more exciting fight. Republicans are seeking to reach the magic figure of 60, which would give them a three-fifth, filibuster-proof majority.

For a while, this did appear possible since several Democrat Senatorsseemed vulnerable in the aftermath of the sex scandal (because while House candidates campaign on specific legislative issues, Senators are seen to be responsible for larger concerns).

But Democrats have fought back over the last few days and regained lost ground. In one of the biggest comebacks, Illinois Senator Carol Moseley-Braun, an African-American woman who was all but written off, has returned to a statistical deadheat with her GOP opponent. So too has California's Barbara Boxer, who is related to the Clintons by marriage.

By far the most colourful fight though is in New York, where Republican incumbent Senator Alphonse D'Amato is sought to be unseated by Democrat challenger Charles Schumer. In a bitter campaign in which both men have spent millions, the battle has often reached ludicrous levels, including a costly ad-driven argument over whether D'Amato called Schumer a ``putzhead'' and what the word means.

The GOP also holds a majority of the state governorships and look set to retain it.Among the contests are two Bush brothers - George and Jeb - sons of former President George Bush who are governors respectively of Texas and Florida. Both are expected to retain their governorships.

But Democrats are tipped to capture the crown in this context - the governorship of California, the nation's biggest state and one which has been under GOP control for 16 years. The California governorship is seen as being crucial also because it will allow the winner to redraw electoral boundaries in the state's constituencies for the 2000 elections. The state, which is America's Uttar Pradesh (in size and political importance) sends 52 Congressmen to the 435-member House.

The sex scandal has certainly receded to the background despite GOP attempts to pump it up with an expensive last minute ad-blitz. Most reports say that unlike in 1994, when there was a strong, nationwide support for the GOP based on its contract with American agenda, this election is based on individual personalities, local issues andfinancial power. ``There's not that national oomph'' as one expert puts it.

In fact, there has hardly been any specific mention of Monica Lewinsky's name although it is on the back of everyone's mind. As always, campaign issues have centered around social security, welfare reform, balanced budget, guns, tobacco etc. One commentator called it the ``strangest normal election we've ever had''.

On Sunday, America received with equanimity the long-speculated news, now based on clinching DNA evidence, that its third President Thomas Jefferson actually fathered a child with his slave Sally Hemmings.

News that a New York real estate magnate handed Paula Jones a check for $ 1 million, to be cashed if she settled the sexual harassment suit against the President, was also confined to the inside pages.