November 1, 1993

With several polls suggesting that a significant number of voters remained undecided, Gov. Jim Florio and his Republican rival, Christine Todd Whitman, spent the last weekend before Election Day campaigning at events from a mall tour to a children's Halloween party and enlisting a string of big-name supporters to help make their cases. Still, the polls showed a clear lead for the Governor, a politician written off as dead less than two years ago. The good news for Mrs. Whitman, who if elected would be the first woman to govern New Jersey, was her narrowing of the gap since earlier surveys.

When Jets running back Johnny Johnson hit Giants linebacker Carlton Bailey in the helmet with a right hook that would have floored Tommy Morrison, it was only one of many examples of an ornery Jets team. That play occurred in the first half, but the Giants and Jets got in shoving matches all day. The Jets definitely had more attitude, even pointing at and mocking the Giants' home crowd. In the past week there was more hype about this game, more talking back and forth than at a World Wrestling Federation match. That didn't change today. After the game it was as if the Giants couldn't accept that the Jets had beaten them. There were complaints from Giants defenders that the Jets were taking cheap shots all afternoon, that the Giants got caught up in the Jets' trash-talking and were brought down to their level. As if the Giants live in a penthouse and the Jets live in a box on the 50-yard line.

At first glance, the letters looked innocent enough, just a few dozen pieces of mail among the 1,000 or more that most members of Congress receive every week. But as Sean Cavanaugh, a Congressional aide, read through them, it almost seemed as if vipers were slithering out of the envelopes. Most of the letters were handwritten, some with the trembling script of the elderly, and they cried out with fear and despair: If Congress approved an obscure proposed change in Medicare policy, "then my husband will die."

In "The Grapes of Wrath," Tom Joad was released from prison with nothing more than a cheap gray suit and a few dollars, and was left to hitchhike his way home. These days, there is an alternative to the abrupt return to society experienced by John Steinbeck's hero. Michael R. Milken and Pete Rose got it, Sol Wachtler wants it and Leona Helmsley has it.

There will be elections tomorrow, Nov.2, in New York State, New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut. Polls will be open in New York State from 6 A.M. to 9 P.M, in New Jersey from 7 A.M. to 8 P.M. and in Connecticut from 6 A.M. to 8 P.M.