10/8/96 Special to The Associated Press

ATHENS, Ohio -- Women voters, abortion and foreign policy were among the topics touched on by James Carville, a senior political adviser to President Clinton, and John Sununu, former chief of staff to President George Bush, in a free-ranging debate before a packed Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium at Ohio University Tuesday night.

Women will cast a pivotal vote in the November presidential election with some polls showing less than 40 percent of women voters will vote for Republican presidential nominee Robert Dole, according to Carville.

"The Republicans have a God-awful problem with women," said Carville. "You write in your platform that a woman can't have an abortion except in the case of rape or incest and you will lose a lot of voters."

Sununu said abortion was not a key issue in the campaign. To win, he said Republicans must appeal to their former allies, ethnic Catholic, blue-collar voters who helped elect President Reagan, to a growing Hispanic vote and to conservative voters in the south where Republicans have made inroads by getting elected to state legislatures.

Carville said Clinton offered a "bridge to the future," while Dole was linked to Republican programs that specified ketchup as a vegetable in school lunch programs and proposals to have college students pay interest on student loans while they are still in school.

But Sununu, an engineer, continued the metaphor, saying Clinton's bridge lacked structural integrity.

"Honesty and a commitment to continued growth must be in the mortar (of the bridge) and on these two issues, James and his friend in the White House have failed miserably," Sununu said. "This is the president who sent our troops to Bosnia and promised they'd be back by Christmas, but now he's saying, oops, another year.' Everybody knew that was going to happen ... and yet if he misrepresents such a critical issue to you, why should you believe anything he says.

Carville said American intervention in Bosnia had saved thousands of lives with very few American casualties.

The strong U.S. economy started under Bush, according to Sununu, who said Clinton has no right to claim credit for low uneployment, low interest rates and continued growth.

" The fact is, this president is taking credit today, in his campaign, for all the legislation sent to him by a Republican legislature," Sununu said.

At a news conference prior to the debate, Carville said Clinton will win the election because voters will simply ask themselves if they are better off today than they were four years ago.

"We are looking at 5.1 percent unemployment, 10 million new jobs, consumer confidence at an all-time high -- it's not that complicated," Carville said. "It's hard to find a measure of American life that is not better today than it was four years ago. ... More people like Roberto Alomar than Newt Gingrich."

Sununu refused to participate in the news conference.

Dubbed the "Ragin' Cajun" because of his Louisiana roots and outspoken manner, Carville claims to have managed more political campaigns than any other political consultant in American history, including Clinton's successful run for the presidency in 1992.

Currently the co-host of CNN's nightly "Crossfire" news and public affairs program, Sununu served three terms as governor of New Hampshire before joining the White House staff where he oversaw daily operations from January 1989 to March 1992.

The Kennedy Lecture Series brings nationally recognized speakers to Ohio University, who appeal to a cross-section of the community and stimulate thought on major public, cultural and scholarly issues.