Because Hispanic and Asian-American voters are even more in play, their concerns will carry greater political weight.

There are only about 30 registered Asian-American voters in Rye.

But lawyers in the suit said that Asian-American voters tend to stay away if they expect language barriers to voting.

The aim is to get 80 percent of registered Asian-American voters in the state to back the endorsed candidate.

While emphasizing the recent fund-raising scandals involving "mysterious Asian-Americans," reporters are ignoring 1996's record turnout by Asian-American voters.

Asian-American voters make up only 8 percent of the electorate in the district.

Polls conducted by her group after last November's election showed that 80 percent of the 5,000 Asian-American voters canvassed had voted Democratic.

"We spend a lot more time than we would have in the past courting Asian-American voters."

Ms. Chen, an immigrant who has lived in Queens since 1964, says Asian-American voters in Flushing should be able to choose the best candidate among many.

A nationwide poll of Asian-American voters released last week showed that the group had substantially more undecided voters than the nation as a whole.