Mr. Rosenzweig said Mr. Clinton was harshly criticized as being soft on crime in 1980, when he was defeated by Frank White, his Republican opponent, in his first re-election bid. Mr. Clinton defeated Mr. White two years later and has been re-elected three more times.

"My personal opinion is that in his heart of hearts he's against the death penalty," Mr. Rosenzweig said of Mr. Clinton. "In my opinion, this is a very easy way to show you're tough on crime."

A spokesman for Mr. Clinton, Mike Gauldin, said the Governor had indeed changed some of his policies toward prison inmates since he returned to office in 1983. In his first term, he commuted the sentences of 70 inmates convicted of a wide variety of crimes, Mr. Gauldin said. Since 1983, he has commuted seven.

In the case of Mr. Rector, Mr. Gauldin said, the courts did not agree with the contentions of defense lawyers about the extent of his impairment. "No one who has considered this claim and applied the prevailing legal standard has concluded that he is incompetent to be executed," Federal District Judge Henry Woods ruled Wednesday in turning down an appeal for a stay.

Both state and Federal law forbid execution of a prisoner who has severe mental impairment.

Mr. Gauldin said that many people who admire Mr. Clinton have assumed he opposes the death penalty, but that their conclusions do not reflect anything the Governor has said. He said Mr. Clinton had so far set execution dates for about 25 death row inmates.

"He's never wanted to get drawn into long drawn-out discussions on the death penalty," Mr. Gauldin said. "He's never given any interviews on whether he sleeps the night of executions or how it makes him feel. He believes it's a serious responsibility that should be treated seriously and is not the kind of thing that should be discussed in terms of politics."

Still, few dispute that there is an undeniable politics of death, particularly in the South, where the vast majority of executions have occurred since the death penalty was reinstated.