WASHINGTON
The best election campaign in New York's recent history was about issues, not outsized personalities. It cast an unabashed supply-side conservative against a liberal who called himself a ''progressive pragmatist.''
The conservative Republican said he would cut spending and be tough on crime - thus establishing ''a limited state that is strong'' to protect ''free people.'' The liberal Democrat defended the ''charitable'' state. ''The purpose of government,'' he said, ''is to make love real in a sinful world.'' Voters appreciated the clarity of the choice, and gave both candidates exceptionally high approval ratings. There are worse things for politicians to do than argue about issues.
The election was the 1982 contest for governor between Republican Lew Lehrman and Democrat Mario Cuomo, who won narrowly. The success of that contest of ideas should offer modest comfort to the political junkies and cable news producers now mourning Rudy Giuliani's disappearance from the New York Senate race.
Here's a bet that the new contest, between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Representative Rick Lazio from Long Island, will be (1) a real, if often nasty, debate on issues; (2) a tougher race for Mrs. Clinton than her contest with Giuliani would have been; and (3) a far more satisfying campaign for voters, who would have wearied of the Clinton-Giuliani psychodrama.
The confrontation of ideas won't be as bracing as the Cuomo-Lehrman race was. Centrism is the political flavor of the year and Lazio, and Mrs. Clinton will dole it out liberally. But Lazio made clear right out of the box that he intends to paint Mrs. Clinton as liberal, liberal, liberal and even, as he put it, ''far left.''
This is a political mistake that will make for an interesting campaign. The voters in New York who can't stand liberals already can't stand Mrs. Clinton and would vote for you or me on the Republican line.
In 1998 former Senator Al D'Amato tried to paint now Senator Chuck Schumer as an ultra-liberal. It worked so well that D'Amato lost after 18 years in the Senate. ''I hope that Rick's campaign team looks at what's happened in the last few years when we used that attack and it didn't work,'' said Assemblyman John Ravitz, a Manhattan Republican.
Every time Lazio says ''far left,'' Mrs. Clinton will say ''Newt Gingrich,'' another tattered attack line that Ravitz thinks won't fly even though Lazio and the former House speaker did share some key votes in common. The upside of this clash is that both Lazio and Mrs. Clinton will be forced to detail why they aren't, respectively, a Gingrich clone or a far-left ranter. That means issue talk instead of ongoing Jesuitical arguments among pundits over the relative sinfulness of various forms of adultery. That alone should make New York voters stand up and cheer.
The advantages of Lazio over Giuliani are clear. He doesn't have Giuliani's enemies, especially among African-Americans in New York City who would have guaranteed a large Democratic turnout. And Lazio is not mayor of New York City, a fact about Giuliani that made upstaters nervous. Mrs. Clinton knew this, which is why she has campaigned so intensely in such places as Buffalo, Syracuse, and Utica.
Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito, a Democrat from the upstate city of Rome and a strong Clinton backer, thinks the attention Mrs. Clinton has lavished on cities and towns like hers will still pay off. But she acknowledges: ''Her new opponent doesn't have the negatives that her former opponent had.''
The one downside for Lazio is that he doesn't have the appeal to New York City Democrats - Jewish voters especially, but some Catholics, too - that Giuliani did.
''There are a lot of people in New York City grateful for Giuliani's hard work in turning the city around, and they wanted to express their appreciation,'' says veteran state Senator Frank Padavan, a Queens Republican. Some of those votes are now available to Mrs. Clinton. Padavan also notes that African-American turnout was on the upswing two years ago ''without Giuliani,'' and could be substantial again this year.
While we wait to find out, we should all pray for Giuliani's fast recovery from cancer. We should also appreciate that his leaving the race has saved us from a nightmarish campaign that would have been high on low entertainment but higher still on pretentious moralizing and heartburn.
That there may be a conflict here between the interests of the media - on the cable chat shows especially - and the interests of the voters of New York might make us media folks rethink our role.
Sure, and Rick Lazio will never, ever remind voters that Mrs. Clinton hails from Illinois, and Mrs. Clinton will never, ever use the word ''Gingrich.''
E.J. Dionne Jr. is a syndicated columnist.
