TAIPEI Taiwan AP It's the last journey down the campaign trail for the man who brought democracy to Taiwan and President Lee Teng-hui is making the most of it. Lee is putting on a lively show as he stumps across Taiwan to help fellow Nationalist Party politicians in campaigning for legislative and mayoral races ahead of Saturday's election. In rural Chiayi city in the south Lee put on a straw hat and rode in to a rally site on a power tiller. In cosmopolitan Taipei Lee played star warrior and knight of the round table. To appeal for party unity the 75-year-old Lee has also appeared on stages in a plumed hat as a tribal chief or wielding a bat as the head of a baseball team. The vote could influence the outcome of the next presidential race in 16 months and is being watched closely by Beijing which considers Taiwan a part of China. Lee says he will retire when his term ends after a career in politics that has seen him change with the times now courting voters with flashy gimmicks rather than long speeches on policy. But Lee still pushes the message that made him a giant of Taiwanese politics: The island will be governed by the will of the people. ``Our party may be a hundred-year-old shop'' a smiling Lee told a rally ``but it has been re-opened as a modern department store. You name it and we can provide the service.'' Lee will campaign in each of Taiwan's 21 cities and counties at least twice before the elections underscoring his influence and popularity. The president commands great respect for bringing democracy to Taiwan after coming to power in 1988. His charisma and his folksy style only embellish his popularity. Lee's Nationalists go into the election after a humiliating defeat in local elections last December due largely to the party's corrupt image. But they are expected to retain their slim majority in a legislature being expanded to 225 seats. Whatever the election outcome may be Lee can rest assured the causes he has championed democracy and the assertion of a Taiwanese identity have taken hold in Taiwan despite stirring anger in China. ``These causes are reaffirmed again and again through elections'' said Antonio Chiang publisher of the Taiwan Daily News. ``Whoever succeeds Lee can only follow the tracks that he has laid down.'' Lee managed to peacefully end the rule of Taiwan's Chinese elite which are dominated by the family of Chiang Kai-shek who fled China in 1949 after losing a civil war against the communists. As Taiwan's first native-born leader Lee has given Taiwanese a say in their own affairs while Chiang had sought to impose a mainland identity to reinforce his government's claim to represent all of China. Lee's other campaign to raise the island's international profile has also angered Beijing almost to the brink of military confrontation three years ago. Most Taiwanese want to avoid changing the island's status and politicians are going along with that putting aside their own stances. In the important Taipei mayoral race Justice Minister Ma Ying-jeou the Nationalist challenger who has adamantly supported unification with China toned down his position and is campaigning under the slogan of ``Taiwan First Taipei First.'' Likewise incumbent Mayor Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party has said only that the people will be Taiwan's ultimate masters rather than spelling out the party's platform of independence which many Taiwanese fear could incite a Chinese invasion. APW19981201.0706.txt.body.html APW19981201.0942.txt.body.html