Senate Seeks to Avoid Election-Year Showdown Over Contra Aid

For the Democrats, the problem is complicated because Dukakis' running mate, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.), is a longtime supporter of military aid to the forces opposing the leftist Sandinista regime in Managua; his position is considerably closer to Bush's than to Dukakis'.

But the entanglements of presidential and congressional politics pose risks for many lawmakers that may overwhelm the lure of any political profit from an exploitation of differences.

House and Senate members have been wrestling with the issue for most of the decade, and it never seems to go away. Polls indicate the American people are uncomfortable at best with U.S. military aid to the contras, but politicians instictively know that heads may roll if Central America "goes sour," as they put it.