41.  Nearly every big state has a high-profile race worth watching.

42.  Now, in most big states except New York, voters do the picking in primaries or political caucuses.

43.  One big hurdle may be the labor unions, which were central to his victory in many big states but are conspicuously uncommitted this time.

44.  Of the big states, Gore appears to have California and New York in his pocket, and probably Pennsylvania and Illinois.

45.  Otherwise, Democrats would concentrate their efforts on big Democratic states and Republicans would target big Republican states in a mad rush to pile up votes.

46.  Other big states around the country are also watching their economies and tax revenues sink, and Congress is worried about paying for the war effort and anti-terrorist measures.

47.  Other big states have a saner schedule.

48.  Pataki hails from a big state, but not even his own advisers predict that he could deliver it to the Republicans.

49.  Sansonetti argued that the proposed system would leave the winner uncertain until the end because the big states had more than half the delegates.

50.  Republicans still appear to have some distance to cover before they capture a majority of the Hispanic vote in any big state.