Foreign policy has proved to be a challenge for Mr. Edwards, a former trial lawyer and one-term senator from North Carolina.

He reminded the audience that Thompson is "a one-term senator" and that "he's well known because of his Law & Order appearance.

For a one-term senator who has battled perceptions among some voters that he lacks experience and policy heft, especially on national security, being defined by his wife's cancer and his response to it is not guaranteed to be a good thing in political terms.

Mr. Mattingly, a one-term senator elected in 1980, was one of the architects of the modern Republican Party in Georgia, and he says that only an actual Republican can perpetuate Mr. Coverdell's legacy.

He succeeded his father, Charles M. Poston, Sr., a one-term senator from 1960 to 1964.

Others are holding back, concerned about Mr. Edwards's relative inexperience - he is a one-term senator and was not active in political or public affairs before that - or finding him somewhat of a blank slate.

Such candor in the name of cutting taxes and reducing the federal bureaucracy is a trademark of Mr. Abraham, a one-term senator who lost his re-election bid in November.

Mr. Edwards, a former one-term senator from North Carolina, is being coy about his fund-raising, in the hope of making a splash when first-quarter money figures are released next month.

Only a few weeks ago he was considered a blip in the polls, a one-term senator from North Carolina whom few gave much of a chance.

Mr. Gorton also had a tense exchange with a fellow Republican, Daniel Evans, a three-term Washington governor and one-term senator.