DENVER -- Colorado voters are feeling a sense of deja vu.

Six years after Republican Wayne Allard beat Democrat Tom Strickland in a close election for the Senate, the two are locked in another tight contest and trading some of the same barbs. With Senate control in the balance, big names and money have been pouring into the state from Washington.

Some of the issues have changed. In 1996, the national economy was poised for a high-tech boom and fraud investigations hadn't torpedoed public trust in corporate executives.

In dueling campaign ads this year, Strickland has been criticized for his lobbying connections to Global Crossing, a bankrupt telecommunications company under investigation by the Justice Department, while Allard has been reproached for accepting donations from Qwest, another financially troubled company under investigation.

With the Senate hanging by a single seat, both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have come to Colorado to help Allard. Strickland has gotten support in visits from former vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt.

The two candidates plan to spend a combined $10 million on the race, with an additional $5 million pledged by national groups.

The result: a race looking a lot like the first one.

Allard had 39 percent, Strickland had 35 percent and 18 percent were still undecided, according to the latest poll, conducted through last Wednesday for the Rocky Mountain News and KCNC-TV. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 points.

A similar poll in August showed Allard with an 8-point lead.

The candidates have a lot of work left to sway undecided voters, analysts say.

Challenger Strickland "still has time, but at this point he's not gotten those swing voters to say, 'I'm ready for a change,"' Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli said. But, he said, "They're also not saying 'I'll re-elect the senator.'"

Libertarian candidate Rick Stanley, who remained on his party's ticket despite activists' attempts to remove him, has been holding 6 percent or more in some polls.

Negative race

"In a race that's been as negative as this one, everybody could stay under 50 percent for quite some time," said Republican political analyst Katy Atkinson. "The voters may be just getting disgusted with everyone."

One advantage for Allard: 36 percent of Colorado's voters are registered Republicans to 30 percent for the Democrats. Some 34 percent are unaffiliated.

Strickland has been painting Republican Allard as an ineffective lawmaker who simply parrots the GOP party line. Allard's campaign has branded Strickland a "millionaire lawyer-lobbyist" out of touch with regular people.

Allard, 58, a Loveland veterinarian, served in the Legislature before being elected to the U.S. House in 1991, and the Senate in 1996, beating Strickland by 5 percentage points. He says his small-business experience is a plus, and has worked to connect with voters by holding annual town meetings in every county.

Strickland, 50, touts his experience as a federal prosecutor. He was Gov. Dick Lamm's director of policy and research before entering private practice in 1984. After he lost the Senate bid, he returned to his law firm before serving as U.S. attorney for Colorado for two years.

Strickland said his greatest mistake in 1996 was allowing Allard to control the race and define him with the lawyer-lobbyist label. This year, he said, he is staying on offense, trying to give voters a reason to make a change away from a GOP partisan toward a moderate Democrat.

"When the table is set in the Senate and the compromises are forged on the issues that really matter, Wayne Allard is never at the table, and that's not Colorado's political tradition," Strickland said.

Allard acknowledges he isn't drawn to high-profile roles on heated issues. He believes voters will turn to him as a steady, experienced hand on issues such as tax and debt reduction and national defense.

Both candidates support President Bush's views in the fight against terrorism, including the possibility of war in Iraq. Both claim strong environmental credentials and both support prescription drug benefits for seniors.

Differences lie in many of the traditional issues that break along party lines. Allard supports abortion only in cases of rape, incest or to save a woman's life, while Strickland supports a woman's right to choose an abortion.

------

On the Net:

Allard: http://www.allardforsenate.com

Strickland: http://www.stricklandforcolorado.com

Stanley: http://www.stanley2002.org