THE NORTH CAROLINA Senatorial contest between Republican incumbent Jesse Helms, 63, and two-term Democratic Governor Jim Hunt, 47, has been widely hailed as second in importance only to the Presidential sweepstakes. It is seen as a bellweather contest because the two candidates so clearly represent polarized, incompatible strands of American politics, yet it has infuriated the early-bird pundits, because no conclusions can yet be drawn. Over $22 million, much of it from out of state donors, has been spent on the race, whole forests have been felled to provide paper for reams of commentary, vitriolic epithets have been bandied, cannonades of mud have been slung, political skeletons have been exhumed and rattled-and yet as the race entered the final week, the polls showed first one man ahead, then the other. The race is headed for a photo-finish.

Helms supporters say a victory for their man would be a victory for the New Right. Hunt supporters say that a Democratic triumph would be a victory for moderate, mainstream politics. Hunt aides have sought to portray Helms as the "High Priest" of a neo-rightist cabal headed by figures such as Nelson Bunker Hunt, Phyllis Schlafly, and Jerry Falwell. Hunt himself recently claimed that if Helms wins he and his "nationwide network of right-wing extremists" will swifltly move to squelch their enemies.

The campaign didn't begin so acrimoniously. As late as August, 1983, Hunt had a nineteen point lead in the polls and was contentedly nattering away about issues. He was promoting "the Four E's": support for Education, the Economy, the Environment and the Elderly, and running on his record as a popular governor.

Hunt aides now claim they knew Helms would resort to mudslinging. They say they had long prepared to counterattack by focusing first on Helms' record as a devout opponent of social security and abortion and as a lackluster Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and second on Helms' "retrogressive" mindset. But they were clearly baffled when Helms began to close the gap in the polls-he slung mud, as expected, but he also traveled the high moral road of emotive symbolism.

Helms has wooed his constituency of the Old South and the New Right by following Ronald Reagan's lead in communicating themes and visions and soaring above the grimy world of facts. Before his New Right admirers, he envisions an America governed by Christian libertarians who would strip the federal government of all responsibilities save national defense and religious guidance. Before poorer, small-town, Old Southerners he extolls a "Walton's mountain vision"-an American based on family virtues, discipline and leadership, the American Dream, and a thinly veiled segregation. Helms admits that he doesn't mind doing what Hunt calls "opening racial wounds," as he doesn't expect any Black votes.

Beneath the cloud cover of his visions, Helms has attacked Hunt on all fronts. He has sought to portray Hunt as the fickle puppet of interest groups he believes are unpopular in North Carolina--labor unions, Blacks, and gays. A publisher sympathetic to Helms recently ran an article in his conservative paper The Leader with the headline JIM HUNT IS SISSY, PRISSY, GIRLISH AND EFFEMINATE. Helms repudiated the article, which went on to claim that Hunt had a homosexual lover, but his aides still refer to opposition staffers as "queers". Further, Helms has used their television debates to bait Hunt about his leadership qualities and toughness under pressure--circling around the touchy issue that has plagued both Walter Mondale and George Bush-manhood.

INDEED, HELMS' master plan has been to associate himself as closely as possible with Mr. Testosjerone, Ronald Reagan, while sticking Hunt with the tag "Mondale liberal". His gamble is that if all else fails Reagan, who leads in North Carolina almost 2 to 1, will carry the state for the ticket.

Hunt has always tried to separate himself from Helms as much as possible, but it is clear that though he supports Mondale, the Governor would also like to dissociate himself from the pallid image of his party's Presidential nominee. Hunt is more moderate than Mondale on such issues as tax increases and the nuclear freeze, both of which he opposes, and on the death penalty, which he favors, but he has had trouble getting voters to look carefully at his record in an emotional campaign dominated by vitriolic television and radio advertisements. Helms seems to have successfully maneuvered both himself and Hunt into the position of standard bearers for the Presidential candidates.

As the campaign entered the final week, Hunt and his aides were working feverishly to bring the focus of the race where it had never been-North Carolina. Hunt painted Helms as an out of touch crusader concerned only with national and international issues. Along this line, the Democrats sought to turn a recent Helms "coup" against him-they said that when Helms garnered the endorsements of 23 American ambassadors it showed that his interests lie far afield. Though Helms has repeatedly said that he has no interest in heading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should Charles Percy, the current chairman, lose in Illinois, Hunt supporters are saying this latest action belies his protestations. The implication in all this is that Jim Hunt will concentrate on doing what he has done for the past eight years-bringing the pork barrel home to North Carolina.

It may well be that all the feverish last minute issue-spinning is pointless. The race will be decided by a special group of young, white, suburban voters: the 9 percent of the electorate that is still undecided. Since national elections tend to sway the undecided voters in a local election, the feeling in North Carolina is that Hunt and Helms are hostages to the political fortunes of Mondale and Reagan. They are thus both representative of and subject to the national forces that will decide the tenor of the next four years.