POLITICAL BRIEFING

AUDIBLE TIME: The confusing dynamics of a three-way presidential race have the Bush brain trust working overtime. Chief strategist Robert M. Teeter frets aloud that a triangular race becomes “nine or 10 times” more complicated than a head-to-head contest. Already, one campaign plan targeting key states has been scrapped. . . . Rocky Mountain states once regarded as shoo-ins for Bush are acknowledged to be in jeopardy. At the same time, Perot has forced the Bush camp to ponder whether the President could win a three-way race in Democratic strongholds. For instance, Bush aides are weighing a big effort in Minnesota--the only state a Democrat has carried in seven of the last eight presidential elections. . . . Such calculations cause Mary Matalin, Bush’s deputy campaign manager, to shake her head in disbelief. “We’re going places where I haven’t even seen a license plate in my political lifetime.”