RHODE ISLAND: Democratic Senator John O. Pastore is the favorite over Rev. John J. McLaughlin. Both are liberals who support the McGovern Hatfield amendment. Pastore will benefit from the August 21 announcement by the Bishop of Providence that McLaughlin did not have the consent of the church in his bid for office. Rhode Island is a heavily Catholic, traditionally Democratic state, and Pastore should have no trouble.

TENNESSEE: Albert Gore, a maverick liberal from a southern state has fallen behind his Republican opponent, Rep. W. E. Brock. Gore has been a prime target of the Southern strategy and is open to Brock charges of "aiding the enemy" for his support of anti-war legislation.

The main reason that Gore is in trouble is the emerging Republican majority in Tennessee. Built around the traditionally Republican Eastern Tennessee and the new suburbs of cities like Memphis and Nashville, the Republican base has been stirred by Brock's richly financed TV campaign.

Gore is also getting old, and his man-on-the-white-horse television spots aren't doing much to help. The loss of Gore will be a big one for liberals in the Senate, but barring a big upset, his defeat seems certain.

TEXAS: No matter which way this one goes, Texas will end up with another conservative Senator to complement John Tower. The upset primary victory of Lloyd Benston over liberal Democrat Sen. Ralph Yarborough was a big victory for the conservative wing of the Texas Democratic Party. Yarborough had a strongly liberal record on the war, civil rights and most other issues.

Benston must win back the supportof the Yarborough backers by November 4 if he is to have a shot at defeating his Republican opponent, Rep. George Bush. Bush, and unabashed backer of President Nixon, is at the moment the favorite.

UTAH: Lacklustre Senator Frank E. Moss is in the same kind of trouble as his neighbor Howard Cannon of Nevada. Moss faces a strong challenge of a conservative, Administration backed Republican, Laurence J. Burton. Burton has made full use of the Agnew techniques and of Agnew himself, and in Utah this is powerful medicine.

Like Cannon, however, Moss may benefit from the Agnew visits to the state. Utah voters are deeply resentful of "outsiders" and the Agnew visits could backfire. Moss will also benefit from his record as an opponent of cigarette advertising. Utah is a Mormon state and the Mormon church forbids cigarettes. A third factor in Moss's favor is the third party candidacy of Clyde Freeman. If Freeman can win five per cent of the vote or more, it should cut Burton's vote enough to hand the election to Moss. If Freeman run poorly, the race is a tossup.

VIRGINIA: Following the breakup of the traditional Byrd machine, a three-way Senate race developed between the incumbent, Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr.; George Rawlings, a liberal Democrat; and Ray Garland, a conservative Republican. The result will determine both who holds the reigns of power in the state and in the once-omnipotent Democratic party.

Byrd was appointed to the Senate in 1965 on the death of his father-the famous conservative who had become a major power in the inner "club" which controls many Senate decisions. But "Little Henry," as Virginians call him, has not developed into the political powerhouse his father was. In a special primary in 1966, the voters ratified his title to the seat by a scant 8100-vote margin out of 430,000.

Byrd had subsequently found himself increasingly isolated by the emerging leadership in the Democratic party, as liberal forces led by freshman Sen. William B. Spong moved to occupy the power vacuum left by his father's death. After a Byrdbacked candidate for Governor ran an ignominious third in the 1969 primary, Byrd announced that he was leaving the party to run as an independent.

Byrd was undoubtedly hoping for Republican endorsement of his Senatorial candidacy this year, but the Virginia GOP, feeling its Wheaties after electing its first Governor since Reconstruction, declined to offer its support, and nominated Ray Garland, a Roanoke lawyer.

The Democrats, decimated by a brutal three-way gubernatorial primary, have nominated George F. Rawlings, a northern Virginia lawyer with a history of fighting the seemingly hopeless liberal fight in a staunchly conservative state. But the primary vote-which was less than half of the 1969 tally-demonstrated that conservative Democrats had abandoned the party to support Byrd or become Republicans.

Byrd's major campaign issue so far has been opposition to recent Fereral Court decisions requiring busing to desegregate schools in Richmond and Norfolk. Trading on his father's reputation as the hero of the "massive resistance" to the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Byrd has stumped the state calling on parent to boycott schools and warning of dire consequences for the school system if "forced mixing" continues.

Garland has run a relatively restrained campaign, using the Administration's high popularity in the state and telling voters that only a vote for Garland will help Nixon in his drive to have the Republicans organize the new Senate.