ISSUES '96: THE BUCKS START HERE

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Like telecommunications, the gambling industry appears to be hedging its bets. After President Clinton considered imposing a 4% tax on gambling receipts in 1994, Steve Wynn's Golden Nugget casino gave the Republican National Committee $230,000, and Wynn, who had supported Clinton in 1992, played host to a nearly half-million-dollar fund raiser for Bob Dole.

But with the possibility looming that Congress may establish a commission with subpoena power to investigate gambling, Wynn is taking a second look at the Democrats. He recently played golf with Clinton, attended a fund raiser for the Democrats in Las Vegas last week and, the Democrats say, pledged a substantial contribution. (Wynn's spokesman denies this.) Now both leading Republicans and Democrats are expressing their doubts about giving the commission subpoena power.

Despite the soft-money flow, some pundits and politicians contend that the system needs more, not less, cash. Why, they wonder, does toothpaste get more advertising dollars than the policy debates of the day? And doesn't something need to be done to reduce the advantage that millionaires have over candidates who are not as well heeled? On the other hand, anyone who attended the Reform Party Convention in Los Angeles two weeks ago could have witnessed the persistent power of Ross Perot's call for campaign-finance reform. National polls show that nearly three-quarters of Americans favor candidates for Congress who say they support overhauling campaign-finance laws.

That's why, as a way to block the McCain-Feingold measure, Dole and a bipartisan group of otherwise reluctant reformers want to create a commission to recommend ways to change the law. But not before Republicans plan another $10 million fund raiser during their National Convention in San Diego this August. And not before Clinton and Gore have completed their own frenetic party fund raising: in the 70 days between April 4 and June 14, the tally was 11 events for the Vice President and 27 events for the President, including last week's $25,000-a-couple luncheon at the home of Las Vegas Sun editor Brian Greenspun.

With that level of addiction to soft money, it is no wonder that the commission will be asked to report back well after November.

--With reporting by Tamala M. Edwards/Louisville