For some Miss-Lou voters, the difference between Al Gore and George Bush’s policies on national defense is that have the same goal, but not the same means of reaching it.

&uot;They both say they are in favor of a strong military,&uot; said Lloyd Love, a Ferriday, La., attorney and World War II&160;veteran. &uot;The way they propose going about doing it is not necessarily the same.

&uot;Nobody will argue with that. The question is how are they going to go about doing it? Who has the better plan?&uot; Love said.

The American people should research the candidates to determine for themselves who has the better plan for national security, Love said.

&uot;And also what’s going on in the Middle East, because that could erupt overnight,&uot; he said.

&uot;That’s something they’re going to be faced with immediately.&uot;

What’s going on in the Middle East may have raised a little more concern among voters about national security.

But political science professor Joseph Parker said he isn’t sure which candidate would benefit from that slight elevation in importance.

Bush, he said, has &uot;more to lose&uot; because he has no foreign policy experience. And even his running mate, former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, may not help him there.

&uot;I don’t know that we elect vice presidents,&uot; Parker said. &uot;When Cheney speaks policy it magnifies the lack of experience the governor has.&uot;

But Gore faces problems as well, especially if there seems to be no clear end to the current fighting in the Middle East.

If voters believe the current administration should have had better energy policies, they may blame the vice president for rising energy prices, Parker said.

&uot;It certainly could cut either way,&uot; he said, &uot;depending on how they present themselves between now and Nov. 7.&uot;

So far, how the candidates have presented themselves on foreign policy issues has provided few fireworks since Bush’s lack of correct responses to a journalist’s pop quiz on foreign leaders several months ago.

According to their Web sites, Bush and Gore seem to have similar sound bites related to foreign policy.

&uot;We need to pursue a policy of ‘forward engagement,’&uot; Gore has said, &uot;addressing problems early in their development before they become crises; addressing them as close to the source of the problem as possible; and having the forces and resources to deal with those threats as soon after their emergence as possible.&uot;

Bush, according to his Web site, believes U.S. foreign policy should be more than &uot;management of crisis. It must have a great and guiding goal: to turn this time of American influence into generations of democratic peace. This is accomplished by concentrating on enduring national interests and by resisting the temptation to withdraw from the world.&uot;

The candidates have also focused attention on national defense.

According to The Associated Press, Bush believes a nuclear stockpile is excessive; he favors cuts, even if Russia does not match them. He would build a robust missile defense system and allocate $20 billion more for weapons research and development, $1 billion more a year for a military pay raise, giving the average soldier $750 more in the first year.