MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Former Lt. Gov. Madeleine Kunin and Attorney General John Easton are virtually deadlocked in the 1984 gubernatorial campaign, the most expensive in state history and the first in several years in which outcome is in doubt.
Kunin, 51, a Democrat, was easily defeated by Gov. Richard Snelling in 1982, but was viewed as a more formidable contender this year.
Easton is a decade younger, and he was unknown when he entered the political arena four years ago.
But over two terms as attorney general, he has cultivated a reputation as a bright young Republican with conservative tendencies and sharp political instincts.
He emerged with an unexpectedly easy win following a divisive GOP primary, and a recent poll showed him with a slight lead over Kunin - who was unopposed for her party's nomination to become Vermont's first woman governor.
However, most political observers believe the poll reflected Easton's primary-win momentum, and that race is generally seen as too close to call.
And, there are three longshot candidates, prompting speculation both Easton and Kunin could be denied a clear majority, throwing the race into the Legislature.
Easton has relied on Gov. Richard Snelling -- a popular, four-term GOP incumbent who is not seeking re-election -- to boost his campaign.
Together, the candidates have already raised upwards of $500,000.
Easton's chief liability is his role planning in the state's ill-fated June raid to check for child abuse in a communal northern Vermont religious sect; Kunin must overcome a tendency by the state to vote Republican to become only the third Democratic governor in this century.
The candidates both have outlined plans to increase funding for education and reduce property tax burdens.
Meanwhile, Democrats and progressive have begun joining hands in what could be a futile effort to deny President Reagan's efforts to carry Vermont.
Reagan is odds-on favorite to repeat his performance of four years ago, when he took the state by about 6 percentage points.
That prompted Vermont's best known progressive politician - socialist Bernard Sanders, two-term mayor of Burlington -- to shrug off a lifelong aversion to major party politics to campaign for Mondale.
Rep. James Jeffords, R-Vt. -- a moderate who regularly angers both the political left and the political right -- is heavily favored to retain his grasp on the state's sole U.S. House seat.
Jeffords has won re-election five times by progressively larger margins; his chief opponent this time around is Anthony Pollina, a schoolteacher and activist who won the Democratic nomination in his first bid for statewide office.
Two men who are familiar with the wheels of state government are vying for attorney general in the only other hotly contested race.
Republican Jeffrey Amestoy -- a former assistant attorney general and labor and industry commissioner -- is viewed as the favorite. He is running mostly on his experience in state government, and his pledge not to seek budget increases or use the office as a political soapbox.
However, Democrat Bruce Lawlor successfully turned back a forceful primary challenge, and has portrayed himself as a strong law-and-order advocate, calling for additional police, pledging to ban pornography and promising to try cases himself as attorney general.
