Senators’ Phone Lines Sizzle With Public Comment : Constituents: Depending on office, nominee receives strong support or stiff opposition. Committee members admit they are sensitive to mood of voters.

The Senate has been deluged with telephone calls during the Clarence Thomas hearings, with the Supreme Court nominee receiving overwhelming support in some offices but lopsided opposition in others.

“Not only is the volume heavy but I can’t remember such a diversity of comments,” an aide to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) said Saturday as testimony continued on sexual harassment charges made by law professor Anita Faye Hill.

“It’s everything from the obvious--pro and con Thomas--to comments on subjects raised, on the issue of discrimination, on the confirmation process. It’s really extraordinary,” aide Mike McCabe said.

At a phone that was constantly ringing in another Democrat’s office, callers were saying that “either Thomas is lying or Hill is lying,” said an aide who asked that his boss not be identified. “Some are appalled that he (Thomas) did not watch her testimony. A few are saying the Republicans are trying to discredit the committee. Some suggest giving them both lie detector tests. One person said, ‘Why not bring in a psychiatrist?’ ”

With many senators avowedly sensitive to public opinion on the matter, the outpouring of calls could have an impact when the Senate votes Tuesday on whether to send Thomas to the high court. While confirmation of Thomas seemed assured a week ago, Hill’s accusations have thrown the nomination into doubt and the vote could be close.

In the office of Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), the committee’s ranking Republican, callers have been overwhelmingly in favor of Thomas. One receptionist had recorded 100 calls on a tally sheet for a two-hour period Saturday, with only 15 opposed to the nominee.

About 500 people had called the office of Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) by noon, with all but 50 expressing support for Thomas.

“I haven’t seen interest like this since the Iran-Contra hearings and the Robert Bork nomination” to the Supreme Court, said Paul Smith, Hatch’s press secretary. “We’ve had calls all the way from Germany and Canada.”

Calls to Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), another committee member, were running above 90% in support of Thomas both Friday and Saturday, an aide said. And callers to the office of Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) were backing Thomas by a 2-1 margin, aides said. DeConcini was the only Democrat who backed Thomas when the committee voted on his nomination Sept. 27.

In contrast, Thomas received little support Saturday from people calling the Washington offices of two other Democrats on the committee--Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont.

The calls made to Kennedy’s office were running 2 to 1 against Thomas. Two-thirds of those calls were from women, who were “almost unanimously opposed to Thomas,” Press Secretary Paul Donovan said.

The opposite occurred Friday, however, when callers to Kennedy’s office indicated support for the nominee by a 2-1 margin. “There were clear signs that many calls Friday were by an orchestrated phone bank,” Donovan said. “This was an aberration from what we have been receiving both before and since.”

Calls to Leahy’s Washington office were about 4 to 1 against Thomas, with many people urging the senator to ask the nominee tougher questions. In his Vermont office, however, the calls were split about 50-50.

Similarly close tallies were reported Saturday by the offices of Sens. Paul Simon (D-Ill.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Hank Brown (R-Colo.).

There were 588 people for Thomas and 529 opposed in calls made to Simon’s Washington and Chicago offices, an aide said. The approximately 2,000 calls received by Specter in his two offices were running “a little in Hill’s favor,” an aide said.

A aide to Brown, also putting the calls in terms of Thomas vs. Hill, said, “There’s no clear winner.”