Indonesian businessman James Riady made frequent visits to the White House during half a dozen trips to Washington, discussing U.S.-Asian trade relations with the president. And one participant in a Clinton-Riady meeting was international business consultant Mark Middleton, a visitor to the White House 41 times during the past 13 months, this according to Secret Service logs. That’s the picture drawn Monday by President Clinton’s own chief spokesperson, Mike McCurry, responding to the growing controversy over foreign-linked political donations to the Democratic Party. And just this aside: Our producer Julie Drizin went to the National Portrait Gallery this weekend, and there she saw a bronze bust of President Clinton. The plaque under it read, “Donated in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Mochtar Riady.” Yes, Mochtar is James Riady’s father. The family has clearly been serving as a conduit between the Clintons and the Indonesian dictator, Suharto.

From Maine to Oregon, Senate candidates are racing to the finish line with plenty of suspense over how they’ll finish. Polls show that more than a dozen of the Senate races could go either way today. They’re that close. Much of the suspense revolves around the 14 seats with no incumbents on the ballot, four of them in Southern states. Elsewhere, some veteran senators are fighting tooth and nail to keep their jobs, including Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry and South Dakota Republican Larry Pressler. Late polls indicate the Republicans have a good chance of keeping their Senate majority. Democrats are hoping for a net gain of three seats to recapture the Senate.

Hunters and lovers of wildlife are facing off in seven states, and their weapons are ballots. Animal protection activists have gotten a record number of measures on ballots this year. Voters in Idaho, Washington, Michigan and Massachusetts will decide measures that would ban various combinations of baiting and hounding of bears, cougars and other wildlife. Colorado voters are being asked to ban traps that clamp the animal’s leg. And an Alaska measure would ban aerial tracking of wolves on the same day they’re shot. But hunters in Oregon are fighting back. They have an initiative to repeal a 1994 measure that banned the use of dogs and bait to hunt cougars and black bears.

Bob Dole is vowing to repeat history. Standing in front of the statue of the late Harry Truman, Dole insisted he, too, would stage an upset victory. He spoke after making an overnight swing which included stops at a bowling alley in Des Moines, Iowa, and a dance hall in Knoxville, Tennessee. Later today, Dole votes in Russell, Kansas, then heads to Washington for what he hopes will be a victory celebration.

For President Clinton, the campaigning is done, and all that’s left is to await the will of the voters. After one final campaign stop, a late-night rally in South Dakota, Clinton has flown back to his native Arkansas. A confident Clinton told supporters that the grand finale of this campaign also marks a milestone because it’s the last campaign stop of his political career.

Ross Perot, just hours away from the voters’ final verdict on his second presidential race, planned to cast his ballot today, get a haircut and spend time at his office. The Reform Party candidate swamped the airwaves on Election Eve, spending about $2 million on two hours’ worth of airtime to broadcast four 30-minute infomercials.

And Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader is working here in Washington, D.C.