Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the three-term Democrat who holds the seat, is retiring at the end of next year.

So, Mr. Gentile, a three-term Democrat, was left to bark out a few salutations at his constituents.

Mr. Malave-Dilan said he had failed to raise enough money to put together an effective campaign against Ms. Velazquez, a three-term incumbent Democrat.

It is too early in the race and Mr. Cuomo, a three-term Democrat, is too subtle a politician to ask for votes at these events.

In 1980, amid the Reagan landslide, he torpedoed a powerful three-term Democrat, Birch Bayh.

Senator Frank G. Lautenberg, the three-term Democrat, plans to vacate the seat at the end of next year.

With six weeks left in the campaign, the poll offered several signs that Mr. Cuomo, a three-term Democrat, was in grave political danger.

The three-term Democrat re-emerged as a pivotal figure during the Congressional fight over Mr. Clinton's budget.

But when it came time for the three-term Democrat to speak, the absent-minded gaze behind the owlish glasses became focused.

To Mr. Webb, a prominent three-term Democrat, Denver's millennium celebration also gives the city a chance to show off a little.