Mr. Vallone sees the stadium referendum as a popular issue for his uphill campaign for Governor.

Seven of the candidates the coalition is supporting are running uphill campaigns against Council incumbents.

The uphill campaign has attracted a coalition of supporters rare in this era of polarization: blacks, whites, Jews, Christians, Muslims, radio talk-show hosts, conservatives and liberals.

That is not unusual in uphill campaigns, as candidates and their handlers grope for winning issues and strategies.

Term-limited out of office, Dear launched an uphill campaign for the New York State Senate seat now held by Kevin Parker in 2002.

Peter F. Vallone's uphill campaign for governor received an unsettling setback yesterday when his car was hit from behind by a van driven by a photographer.

Halfway through that term, he ran an uphill but successful campaign to unseat Senator Lowell P. Weicker Jr., the three-term Republican.

He helped start Alfonse M. D'Amato's uphill campaign for the Senate in 1980 before working for Cablevision.

He switched views in office and, in a brave uphill campaign, won approval of NATO.

Which is why Obama faces an uphill campaign.