A fierce gubernatorial battle between former attorney general Janet Reno and Democratic newcomer Bill McBride in Florida and a nasty feud between Republicans Sen. Robert Smith and Rep. John E. Sununu in New Hampshire top the list of races that will be decided Tuesday on the busiest primary election day of 2002.

Reno once held a commanding lead over lawyer McBride in the contest to nominate a challenger for Republican Gov. Jeb Bush in November. But heavy spending and a slew of endorsements have put McBride in position to score an upset - if Reno's base of blacks and senior citizens, and a late round of negative ads financed by the Florida Republican Party, do not derail him.

In New Hampshire, Smith faces possible elimination against Sununu in a race that has been marked by personal attacks and a series of conflicting polls. One recent poll showed Sununu with a seemingly insurmountable lead for the GOP Senate nomination, but strategists said the race is far closer.

Voters in 11 states will select party nominees Tuesday in the shadow of events commemorating the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and with President Bush preparing for a United Nations speech Thursday in which he will outline U.S. policy aimed at forcing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power.

Party picking

Tuesday's balloting will largely complete the process of picking party nominees - the Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial primary on Sept. 17 is the last major competitive contest to be resolved. The candidates then will turn their full attention to the Nov. 5 elections, which could result in a shift of control in the House, Senate and statehouses.

Some of the drama of Tuesday's balloting was removed last week when former housing secretary Andrew Cuomo unexpectedly dropped out of the Democratic gubernatorial primary in New York, handing the nomination to state Comptroller H. Carl McCall, the first black nominated for governor in the state by either major party. He will face Gov. George E. Pataki in November.

That still leaves a competitive, three-way Democratic gubernatorial primary in Wisconsin, a state that Democrats see as ripe to defeat an incumbent Republican; a Democratic Senate primary in North Carolina to select a nominee to oppose Elizabeth H. Dole; and several other gubernatorial and House primaries.

Tuesday's primaries also feature competitive races in Rhode Island, Vermont and Arizona.

The key Senate primary will be in North Carolina. Former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles is favored to win the Democratic primary and go on to face Dole in the general election.

The liveliest House primaries are the Democratic contest in Maryland to pick a challenger to Rep. Constance A. Morella, races in open congressional districts in Arizona and New Hampshire and runoff elections in Georgia.