21.   The wacky NFC East division race just got tighter.

22.   Then the race got interesting.

23.   The Western Conference race got a lot tougher with the defending champion Houston Comets moving from the Eastern Conference to accommodate the expansion teams from Detroit and Washington.

24.   This is about as delicious as a baseball pennant race can get.

25.   This Clinton-Dole race is getting furious.

26.   Those will not be rallying cries when the weather gets cold and playoff races get hot.

27.   After a controversial winter move to the U.S. Postal team , he starts the defense of his title on Saturday when the race gets under way in Salamanca.

28.   But the race got approval from the Ministry of Justice.

29.   Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the race may not get any closer.

30.   Gore curtailed spending in Ohio and Louisiana, but beefed up his advertising in Ohio when the race there got tighter.