POLITICAL BRIEFING

RENEWED HOPE: Senior aides to Democrat Bill Clinton detail several reasons for the surge of optimism infusing his presidential campaign. Recent national polls have shown him more competitive with President Bush and Ross Perot. The number of voter inquiries to Clinton headquarters has soared. And the campaign’s lagging fund raising has picked up. . . . Clinton’s staff is hoping all this translates into momentum in specific areas. The first place they’re looking, pollster Stanley Greenberg said, is New England. Clinton has trailed far behind the usual level of Democratic support there. But antipathy toward Bush runs deep in his native region, which was hit hard by the recession. And many analysts doubt Perot’s Texas style will wear well with Yankee voters. . . . A new poll in Massachusetts offered encouragement to Clinton’s camp. He trailed badly there in early June, but the new survey gave him 28% support, compared to 26% for Bush and 23% for Perot.