AST LANSING, Mich. - There was a time when Senator John McCain could flood a performance hall with excitement, tantalizing listeners with visions of how pure and inspiring government could be.
That's not always the case these days, as neither McCain nor his followers seem to know quite how to channel that passion into an election in which neither major party candidate bothers much to echo the tone or substance of his insurgent campaign.
That ambivalence was much in evidence when some 3,000 supporters turned out to greet McCain at a town meeting here last week. The mood, less than a month before Election Day, was dominated by nostalgia for what might have been and by a grim question: Do we really have to vote for either Al Gore or George W. Bush?
Despite early predictions that both parties would pursue the McCain vote, almost no one in the room voiced excitement about either candidate, or said they felt they had been seriously courted.
Beverly Baten, 63, an independent, said she was ''looking and searching'' for clues on how to vote. For Liono Pretto, 54, a Republican, it had ''come down to another election offering me the lesser of two evils.'' Nathan Semrinec, 19, another independent voter, said he wanted to just ''vote Snoopy.''
Their attitude was striking, suggesting that although Bush has made recent gains among independents, neither candidate has come close to nailing down the magical ''McCain majority,'' the half-million voters who made the Arizona senator the surprise winner of the Michigan Republican primary. But perhaps most telling was the tepid advice from McCain, who encouraged his followers to simply ''take a look at Governor Bush'' and even offered some cautious praise for Gore.
That leaves a significant question hovering over this politically crucial state, making it impossible for either side to feel confident about which direction its chunk of 18 electoral votes will swing. Even McCain, who has endorsed Bush and who will travel with him to New Hampshire today, would not hazard a guess on what his supporters will do in three weeks.
''Even though they harbor an allegiance to me, they are independents,'' he said in an interview. ''My only influence over them is to ask them to examine Governor Bush. But there's no indication that just because I am supporting Governor Bush, therefore they are. It's just not there.''
Explaining further, he added: ''I've had a lot of people come up to me and say, `Senator McCain, I don't know who to vote for.' So I've said, `Well, would you take a look at Governor Bush?' But I cannot remember a time when one of them said, `OK, I'll support him.'''
Despite their public rapprochement after a bitter primary season battle, the two men have not worked as closely together as they once suggested they would. McCain, stumping furiously across the nation for House and Senate and gubernatorial candidates, has not been asked to make a Bush television ad. And although McCain has offered to spend up to seven days on the trail with Bush, the Bush campaign has only recruited him for five. The two men did not even appear together last week in Michigan, even though they nearly crossed paths.
McCain dismissed their rare joint appearances as an aberration due to tight scheduling. At the same time, there is scant evidence an endorsement by him or anyone would do much to move public opinion. President Clinton, who carried Michigan in the last two elections and now fully backs Gore, hasn't given much of a lift to his own vice president.
But if the residual gulf between the McCain and Bush camps troubles some campaign observers, it provided a sort of solace to some undecided voters who came to hear McCain speak and don't want to see his cause lost to political accommodation. At one point during the town meeting, which was hosted by television broadcaster Chris Matthews and aired live on MSNBC's ''Hardball,'' a group of students even booed at the mention of Bush.
Pressed by Matthews to give the audience voting advice, McCain finally said, during the fifth segment of the show, ''Obviously, I want them to support Governor Bush.'' That drew jeers. A minute later, McCain added, ''But I also want you to examine Al Gore,'' saying he would ''respect'' a vote for Gore if it were a sign young people were getting involved in the political process.
Polls in Michigan indicate an extremely close race, with Gore holding a slight edge with the general electorate but Bush gaining ground among independents.
Both candidates have courted independents in different ways. While Bush has made the word ''reform'' a staple of his vocabulary, Gore has zeroed in on specific issues once dominated by McCain.
In particular, Gore has pledged to sign a McCain campaign finance reform bill if elected - a position that has driven yet another wedge between Bush and McCain. Asked whether Bush would sign his bill, McCain said, ''I don't have that commitment yet, but there's a majority in the House and Senate.'' He said he would try to force Bush to sign the bill if he won.
When it came to Gore, on the other hand, McCain offered a hint of praise. ''He is clearly paying attention to campaign finance reform more,'' McCain said in the interview. ''I think one of the reasons is I believe he is genuinely committed to campaign finance reform; but I also think another reason is he's very vulnerable on what he and President Clinton did in the 1996 campaign.''
But is campaign finance truly a burning political issue, one vital enough to make McCain supporters fall in love with Gore?
Several said it was, then retreated, admitting it had perhaps become a symbol of the straight-shooting image that endeared them to McCain. And that instinctive candor, they said, is conspicuously missing in either nominee.
Jeannette Lienhart, 50, remembered that ''when McCain dropped out, they both said, `Like McCain, I believe this; like McCain, I believe that.''' Now, Leinhart said she is not so sure Bush and Gore truly meant what they said after the primaries.
''You don't hear them saying that anymore,'' added her friend, Dan Kuhn, 45, an accountant from nearby Jackson. ''They're just paying a lot of lip service.'' Both Lienhart and Kuhn said they planned to vote for Gore.
Baten, an East Lansing City Council member who represents neither party, was somewhat less cynical. Saying she was still ''looking and searching, in the media and newspapers and TV,'' for clues on how to vote, Baten said she was leaning toward Gore in large part because of his commitment to campaign finance reform.
''I think Al Gore has taken up some of those issues that John was talking about and learned to recognize their value,'' she said. ''I think he's going out after those swing votes a little more.''
But nothing would persuade Pretto, a retired chief petty officer who served with McCain in Florida in the 1970s, to support the vice president. As displeased as he is with his choices, Pretto said he found Bush somewhat less abhorrent than his opponent. ''I find Bush a little less evil, so I suppose that's where I'll go,'' Pretto said.
His wife, Kaye LaRayne Pretto, 55, an artist, agreed, saying she will probably cast a vote for Bush, though not with any great enthusiasm. ''The thing is, McCain did represent truth, honor, and integrity,'' she said, looking wistfully at the Michigan State University auditorium where she had just finished hearing McCain speak. ''Where are you going to find that in another candidate?''
