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rnTHE BISMARCK Tribune They often recall politicians' past history when heading to the polls i i AP By DAVID CHARY APStitional Writer First came stories about groping, group sex and marijuana. Then an a'ieeuiion of admiring words for Hitler. The steady siream of reports about Arnold Schwarzenegger's past raises a challenging question for all American voters how much should they forgive and forget? Many prominent politicians have been compelled in recent years to admit to marital infidelity, yet still managed to siay in office. Others voluntarily, or under varying degrees of duress have acknowledged using marijuana. In the case of Schwarzenegger, a strong contender to be elected California governor if Gray Davis is recalled next Tuesday, no political track record exists to balance against the reported indiscretions.

Voters' views of his personal past could weigh heavily in the recall outcome. "I would want to give him the benefit of the doubt," said the Rev. Stephen Bouman, a New York-based bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "If we're looking at 1975, 1 wouldn't want to held accountable for everything Id id either." Earlier in the recall campaign, Schwarzenegger acknowledged that he had smoked marijuana; this week, news reports said six women accused him of groping and sexually harassing them in incidents between 2000, and that he spoke admiringly of Hitler in a 1975 interview. Schwarzenegger said he recalled no such comments about Hitler; he acknowledged doing "things that were not right on freewheeling movie sets and pledged to work for women as governor.

"What bothers me isn't morality per se, but leaders who think they can run roughshod over everyone," Bouman said. "Does he nave a sense of entitlement I can do what I want, touch what 1 want, whenever I want' Does this have anything to do with his ability to lead, to listen to others?" Nicol Rae, a political science professor at Florida International University, said specific political circumstances dictate the extent of the public's tolerance and forgiveness. "President Clinton's problems (with Monica Lewinsky) would have been a whole lot more serious had the economy been in the tank." Rae said. ff this stuff about Schwarzenegger doesn't have much of an impact, maybe it's an indication Californians are keen to get rid of Gray Davis." As for Schwarzenegger's reported comments about Hidcr, Rae drew a parallel with Sen. Robert Byrd, "Early in his career, Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan," Rae noted.

"It's not held against him. Everybody reveres him now." Some conservative groups that emphasize morality and family values have suggested that Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican, aeserves forgiveness. Others have condemned him harshly and urged their supporters to vote instead for Tom McQintock, ho has a long record as a conservative GOP officeholder. "What someone does outside elected office does matter," said Randy Thomasson, executive director of Campaign for California Families. "Bill Clinton was wrong for having oral sex with an intern, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is wrong for fondling women." Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Center, said a key question, in Schwarzenegger's case, was whether he sincerely repented.

"It's good to be forgiving, but the question is whether the activity continues." Perkins said. "There needs to be a recognition that the activity was wrong." Decrying the prevalence of Personal attacks in politics, erkins said he would prefer that opposition to Schwarzenegger focus more on his moderate" stances regarding abortion and gay rights. Another prominent conservative, Janice Grouse of the Beverly La Have Institute, said a candidate's sexual behavior should definitely be considered a relevant issue for voters. "I want to know how recent was the latest episode is it something that has continued since he was married?" she said of Schwarzenegger. "If it's behavior when he was not married, when he was new to this country, and young and foolish, it should not be a disqualifier for voting for him." In the context of the other reported indiscretions, Schwarzenegger's admission of past marijuana use has drawn Volume 133.

Humbm 277 ISS 0745-1091. Publish dailji About us Established Btsman Tit-bun the official Mwsoapet, sate of Nortti DaWU. eountr of Buraigh and city of unarj. Published ttarrj at 707 E. from Av Bismarck, ND 68504.

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Marijuana Policy Project, which seeks to ease marijuana laws. "What almost nobody is willing to go near, so we don't know what the voter reaction would be, is to talk about having used it recently," Mirkin said. Hiring up for the first time in eight months Unemployment rate stays at 6.1 percent, indicating better days ahead for job seekers little scrutiny. In general, voters have become relatively accepting, and politicians are relatively willing to acknowledge marijuana in the relatively distant past," said Bruce Mirkin of the presidency in 1992. "The administration's tax cuts have not created jobs as promised, but they have created huge deficits that will stifle growth in the future and burden our children and grandchildren with debt," said Rep.

John Spratt of South Carolina, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee. The economy has improved in recent months, growing at a 3.3 percent rate in the second quarter. Analysts are predicting even more momentum in the current quarter, growing at a rate of 5 percent But improvements are just beginning to trickle down to the jobs market, always the last sector of the economy to rebound. The soaring trade deficit is forcing companies to send jobs overseas, cutting their costs to compete. Businesses also are relying on existing workers to do more rather than taking on the increased cost of new hires.

Amid signs of an economic rebound, the Federal Reserve news, with the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 84 points and the Nasdaq with 44 points at close. President Bush said his administration's efforts to spur a healthier economy were starting to take hold. "Things are getting better," Bush said in Milwaukee, standing in front of a huge poster of the city's downtown, emblazoned with the White House theme "Strengthening America's Economy. "But there's still work to do," he said. He challenged Congress to make permanent recently enacted tax cuts rather than let them expire on schedule.

Analysts warned against too much optimism from the first jobs increase since January. "We should keep in mind that one month, a trend does not make," Naroff said. Job growth needs to be consistently above 100,000 a month for confidence in a rebound, said Mark Zandi, chief econo mist at Economy.com. "The job market is stabilizing," Zandi said of Friday's report. "But it also shows the market is far from healthy.

It's simply flat. It's not eroding. It's a step in the right direction, but it's not enough." Unemployed workers seeking jobs for '27 weeks or more jumped to 2.1 million last month from 1.9 million in August. Also, people working part time because they cant find full-time work increased to nearly 5 million, up from 4.4 million in August. The weak hiring outlook could mean trouble for Bush's re-election chances next year.

The 10 Democrats wing to challenge him have latched onto the economy as a campaign issue, criticizing the administration for tax cuts they say have benefited the wealthy and failed to improve the lives of ordinary Americans. The economy was a major factor in the defeat of Bush's father when he sought re-election to the Calendar The calendar is an edited listing of events of general public Interest and is not meant to be used for general commercial purposes. Submissions are welcome. There's no charge for listing Items. The Bismarck Tribune Web site at bisnwcWnbune com lists two weeks' worth of events.

Deadline for the Calendar is p.m. weekdays. Calendar items may be left at the Tribune. Or send Items to Calendar, P.O. Box 5516.

Bismarck. O. 58506, e-mail fax at 223-2063 or call 250-8240 or 223-2500, ext 240. last month decided to hold a key short-term interest rate at a 45-year low of 1 percent Analysts think policy-makers will leave that rate unchanged when they meet on Oct. 28.

in Friday's reports, manufacturing lost jobs for the 37th straight month, a record, although the pace of the hemorrhaging slowed. Construction employment was up for the seventh straight month. In the services sector, professional and business services added 66,000 new jobs last month, with half of the gain occurring in temporary employment services. That gain is significant because analysts closely watch the industry for signs of hiring; growing companies often wul hire temporary workers before taking on full-time employees. Gains also were posted in health care and social assistance; transportation and warehousing; and financial services.

uestionea im etermine the in-orbit surveys Shuttle launch window through Oct. date for today" and gives time in which Al-Qaida ISLAMABAD, By LEIGH STROPE AP Labor Writer WASHINGTON Business-' es added jobs in September for the first time in eight months and the nation's unemployment rate stayed at 6.1 percent, indicating better davs may lie ahead for frustrated job seekers. Payrolls grew bv 57,000 last month, the Labor "Department reported Friday, and there was even new hope for the slumping manufacturing sector. Some 29,000 factory jobs were lost, considerably fewer than in previous months. Overall job losses in August, initially reported at 93,000, were revised sharply to 41,000, also a positive sign.

"Wonder of wonders, miracles of miracles, there actually are jobs being created again, said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. Economists had expected the rate to rise to 6.2 percent, with a loss of 25,000 more jobs. Wall Street surged on the Morning briefing i of the entire shin. program manager Bill Parsons said the that extends from about Sept 12 10, 2004, represents "the best planning the information that we Know NASA a reasonable amount of to accomplish everything. suspects questioned Pakistan (AP) Authorities ai yaiaa suspects t-nday, trying to identities and lovalties of tHe men means it can hit several important targets in India.

"We have successfully test-fired the Hatf-3," said army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sultan. He declined to say where exactly the test was conducted. The army later released a statement saying that India and other neighboring countries were informed before the test. The test was the first by Pakistan since March 26, hen it fired off a short-range missile shortly after India announced a similar launch.

Space shuttle flight next fall GPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) NASA is targeting next fall for its next space shuttle launch, saying there are too many post -Columbia repairs to fly any sooner. Senior space agency officials decided Friday to aim for a launch in September 2004 for Atlantis. That date could slip even further into next year or even into 2005, depending on the progress of the shuttle repair work. NASA had been using next March as a planning date for the first shuttle flight following the Columbia disaster.

Readdy said the work involves coming up with astronaut repair kits for the shuttle's outer thermal layer, redesigning the fuel tank so insulating foam does not break off and building an extension boom for the shuttle robot arm to conduct Kevin Jones, 38, pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension and receiving stolen property stemming from the bank robbery last October, which netted $3,550. Jones, whose trial ended in a hung jury Tuesday, is free on bail but faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 9. Prosecutors said Jones, who found cut about the robbery when his wife and stepdaughters returned home from committing it, helped destroy evidence and launder some of the proceeds at an Atlantic City casino. Jones admitted accompanying his wife, Kathleen Wortman Jones, to pay the family's S214 phone bill with proceeds from the robbery.

He also admitted helping dispose of clothing the twins wore during the robbery. Pakistan test-fires missile ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) Pakistan shot off a surface-to-surface, nuclear-capable rocket Friday in its first test in months, but it denied the launch had anything to do with stalled peace talks with The army announced the early-morning launch of the short-range Hatf-3 Ghaznavi missile, and promised "a series" of tests in coming dys. The missile can carry conventional and non-conventional weapons, and its range of 180 miles captured in Pakistan's largest raid against Osama bin Laden's terror network. It was not yet known if any top-ranking al-Qaida figures were among the captured, three of whom were wounded in Thursday's battle at a compound in the dusty hills of South Waziristan, a rugged tribal area on the Afchan border. Interrogators sought to find out the men's names and nationalities, what links they had to al-Qaida and what contacts if any they've had with bin Laden, an intelligence official told the Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The interrogators will also focus on whether the group included any fighters from the Taliban, the regime ousted from neighboring Afghanistan by a U.S.-led coalition in late 20C1. Kevin Jones enters his plea of guilty on Friday in Ocean County Court in Toms River, N.J. Jones, 38, of Bamegat, whose wife and twin 14-year-old stepdaughters robbed a bank, pleaded guilty Friday to helping cover up the heist. Man admits to heist coverup TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) A man whose wife and twin stepdaughters robbed a bank pleaded guilty Friday to helping cover up the heist, saying ne di'dn't want to put his family through a second trial..