CAMPAIGN FINANCE

By Viveca Novak/Washington

Senate Democrats are poring over documents from BOB DOLE's campaign that they allege contain strong evidence of illegal coordination between the Dole effort and supposedly independent nonprofit groups in last year's election. The documents turned up on a computer hard drive that went with a Dole campaign aide to her new job at a law firm. The 200 or so pages were delivered late Friday to Senator Fred Thompson's committee investigating 1996 campaign-finance abuses; more are expected this week. They include notes of meetings and strategy memos dealing with the Christian Coalition, the Americans for Tax Reform, the National Right to Life Committee and Haley Barbour's National Policy Forum. Dole lawyers deny the papers show anything improper or were intentionally withheld.

The material was discovered after Democratic committee lawyers sent the campaign lawyers a letter in August reminding them to check their computer files and hard drives--all covered by a broad subpoena in April. Dole lawyers told the panel about the papers on Sept. 29; Democrats are wondering why it took more than two weeks to produce the material.

--By Viveca Novak/Washington