October 17, 2000

Tone of advertising in presidential campaign is becoming noticeably more confrontational, on issues if not personalities, as strategists concentrate on states they believe are up for grabs as campaign winds down; Republicans and Democrats spent total of $18.5 million on television, evenly split between parties, in last week of September and first week of October on six highly contested states: Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin; Republicans are also spending in California, Minnesota and West Virginia--states thought to be long shots for Bush; Democrats are fashioning television and radio attack ads in Florida, Washington State, West Virginia and Iowa; photos (M)

Shareholders clear $650 million rescue package for ailing Aerolineas Argentinas after agreement on cash infusion between governments of Spain and Argentina; SEPI, Spanish state holding company that owns 85 percent of airline, will provide most of package (S)

Moody's Investors Service raises foreign currency rating on Brazil's bonds and notes (S)

The West Wing, hourlong NBC series about Oval Office staff, takes off in its second season; show won record nine Emmy awards last month; its two-hour premiere episode on Oct 4 drew unexepected 25 million viewers, propelling it into top rank with E.R., which averaged 24.9 million viewers last year; last season The West Wing ranked 30th among network shows and drew average 14 million viewers; photos of West Wing actors, including Martin Sheen and Allison Janney (M)

Nassau County, NY, Democrats, trying to prevent state takeover of county's finances, say that they will seek double-digit percentage increase in county portion of property tax rate next year and reject costly raises for county police officers and detectives (M)