Bill Clinton's chief of staff at the White House, Erskine Bowles, is fighting hard to take Jesse Helms's old Senate seat in North Carolina.

His task is made all the harder by having to fight the nationally-known Elizabeth Dole, who is the Republican candidate.

Both contenders were North Carolina-born but both made their political or business careers in Washington before taking to the state's hustings this year.

In the aftermath of 11 September, whatever discomfort I may have with politics now seems so unimportant and immaterial

Erskine Bowles

Mr Bowles, White House chief of staff from December 1996 to November 1998, entered politics as a Clinton campaign fundraiser in 1992.

He went on to become head of President Clinton's Small Business Administration, then deputy chief of staff and finally chief of staff, until he resigned in 1998.

Before and during breaks in his political career, he made millions in corporate finance - something that has come back to haunt his political life, with the state of Connecticut suing an investment firm in which Mr Bowles was a partner.

Starting out as the underdog in the North Carolina race, he has been catching up on Elizabeth Dole, once a contender for the Republican presidential nomination and wife of the former Republican presidential contender, Robert Dole.

But North Carolina's newspapers still put him several points behind his opponent.

Corporate skeletons

Both Senate hopefuls have pledged to fight the election on issues and Erskine Bowles says on his election website: "I will not be running against anyone... the other candidates are all good people."

But much of the campaigning has centred on mutual accusations of alleged corporate or financial scandals.

Erskine Bowles had the ear of the former president

Both Mr Bowles and Mrs Dole deny any direct connection with corporate misdeeds in companies with which they have been associated in the past.

Commenting on the nature of the campaign, the Charlotte Observer newspaper says that the two candidates have been "hammering each other through television ads".

It adds that the candidates and their supporting parties are spending nearly $2m a week on television advertising.

War may dominate

The major issues, other than personal attacks, that have dominated the campaign are the future of social security funds and the tobacco industry.

Mr Bowles favours retaining public control over social security accounts, while Mrs Dole supports the Bush administration's policy of partial privatisation.

On tobacco, a main but falling source of income for the state's farmers, they are arguing over who can get a better deal for farmers who want to shift to other crops.

But local observers believe that issues of state interest could be overtaken by the debate over military action against Iraq.

Mrs Dole is a strong supporter of President Bush.

Mr Bowles has been very quiet on the topic.

The Issues 2002 website, which records the views of candidates in November's elections, says "no stance on record" next to Erskine Bowles's name when it comes to foreign policy and war and peace issues.

White House years

If Erskine Bowles can overturn his opponents' leader he will be returning to Washington after a gap of four years but as a fully-fledged politician rather than a staffer.

This is something he did not want to do, he says.

In a personal statement on his campaign site, he says that an earlier decision not to run for the Senate "was based on my personal discomfort with politics...I am not a politician".

But Mr Bowles adds: "In the aftermath of 11 September, whatever discomfort I may have with politics now seems so unimportant and immaterial."

He pledges that if he is given the honour of serving North Carolina in the Senate he will work daily "to strengthen national security, repair our damaged economy and improve the education and skills of our people".