By Globe Staff and Wires, 1/25/2000

anchester, N.H. - They don't see eye to eye. Their polls are neck and neck. But early this morning, Al Gore and Bill Bradley could be cheek by jowl at Nashua's Sheraton Tara.

IOWA CAUCUS RESULTS Republican 97% of precincts reporting Bush 41% Forbes 30% Keyes 14% Bauer 9% McCain 5% Hatch 1% Democrats 98% of precincts reporting Gore 63% Bradley 35% Percentages will not necessarily add to 100. MORE COVERAGE FROM THE GLOBE Bush, Gore wrap up Iowa The votes tell the contentment Lesson of Iowa: Counterattack quickly Candidates have one goal remaining: closing the deal Tight-three way race in New Hampshire envisioned Gore plays it cool and girds for battle Hatch to announce he's quitting race Small-town USA sees big time turnout at polls On the road in N.H., McCain dismisses Iowa Sharing quarters, but ever so briefly EARLIER NEWS Gore, Bush easy winners of Iowa caucuses Voters say Bush best choice on moral values, can win in November Democrats: Iowa picks fighter Gore over Bradley's fresh start Republicans: Bush aims to use caucus victory to set up showdown with McCain Fiery Keyes gets strong caucus support Down-home politics shape Iowa Iowa's only the first step in picking nominee With a final flury, candidates focus on turnout Former president waits nervously as son competes in Iowa caucuses After Iowa: On to New Hampshire ABOUT THE CAUCUSES How Iowa caucuses work Why they are important ABOUT IOWA Population: 2.85 million. Registered voters: 1.8 million -- 36 percent unaffiliated, 32 percent Republican, 31 percent Democrat. Percentage of voters attending GOP caucuses in 1996: 17 percent. Race: 97 percent white. 2 percent black. 1 percent Asian. 2 percent Hispanic origin. Median age: 36.3. Median household income: $33,877. Poverty rate: 9.4 percent. Unemployment rate: 2.7 percent. Abortions: 9.8 per 1,000 women in 1995, compared with the national average of 22.9 per 1,000. 1996 vote: 50 percent Clinton; 40 percent Dole; 9 percent Perot. Average life span: 77 years, compared with the U.S. average of 75. Housing: Just over 72 percent of Iowans own their own homes, national average 66.3 percent. Crime rate: 3,816 victims per 100,000 people in 1997, vs. national average of 4,923. Tax burden: On a per-person basis, Iowa paid $4,530 in federal taxes in 1997 and got back $4,661 in federal spending.

Most of the candidates came winging in from Iowa in the predawn hours. But only Gore and Bradley, whose dislike for one another seems almost palpable in debates, wound up scheduled to sleep in the same hotel.

Don't expect any reports of verbal fisticuffs by the ice machine, or arguments over health care arcana in the hallway.

''They'll be too tired to mix it up,'' predicted Douglas Hattaway, Gore's New Hampshire spokesman. Tonight, the Bradley campaign moves on to neutral terrain, bedding down at the Concord Holiday Inn.

Charging Gore camp with nuisance calls

Speaking of tension on the Democratic side, the Bradley camp is accusing Gore campaign officials of dirty pool in their phone bank operation.

Sarah Denmark, a Bradley supporter who lives in Manchester, received at least three phone calls recently checking to see who she plans to vote for in the primary next Tuesday.

Each time, Denmark said, the caller identified himself as being from the Democratic Party. And each time, after prodding from Denmark, she discovered the caller was really from the Gore campaign.

''I said it's misrepresenting who you are and it's not fair to your candidate or any candidate,'' said Denmark, who was annoyed by the constant calling.

Mo Elleithee, a spokesman for Bradley, was furious about the alleged misidentification. ''This is pretty sleazy and absolutely flies in the face of what the vice president is saying about holding his campaign to a higher standard,'' Elleithee said. ''It's the kind of dirty campaigning that people here in New Hampshire are just fed up with.''

A reading of the Gore telephone script shows that callers are telling voters they are conducting some ''quick voter research.'' But Douglas Hattaway, Gore's spokesman here, said no one is identifying himself or herself as being from the Democratic Party.

''It sounds like the Bradley campaign is trying to heat up the rhetoric at the last minute,'' he said. ''We're going to stay focused on the issues.''

These ads take aim at the candidates

Not all television ads beamed through the first primary state are aimed at the voters. Tomorrow, the American Cancer Society launches a spot that's directed at the candidates.

Betsy Ross Duany, the great, great, great, great granddaughter of the Revolutionary War's Betsy Ross, is a breast cancer survivor from Plainfield.

''Isn't it about time that we ask the presidential candidates what they're going to do about cancer?'' she asks in the ad. ''Isn't it about time we ask where they stand on winning this battle once and for all?''

The Cancer Society's campaign, has included sending volunteers to town hall meetings in New Hampshire to ask the candidates what they would do to address the disease.

Not that anyone is keeping score

The real voting here doesn't occur for another week. But the campaigns are itching to prove themselves ahead of time, and no one is crowing louder than John McCain's team, with 15 newspaper endorsements in New Hampshire. George W. Bush, on the other hand, has just three endorsements under his belt, and Steve Forbes has one, from the Union Leader of Manchester.

On the Democratic side, the verdict is far less conclusive. Both Al Gore and Bill Bradley have been endorsed by three daily newspapers here; Bradley also has the backing of six weeklies and one high school newspaper, the Saber Scribe at Souhegan High School in Amherst. But the Gore camp was dismissive of the written testimonials.

JILL ZUCKMAN