"It will put on steroids the trend that outside groups are increasingly dominating campaigns," Mr. Ginsberg said.
Mr. Jammeh, 41, a former wrestler and coup leader, had been widely expected to win the election in Gambia, continental Africa's smallest country, after dominating campaigning and after a rift among his challengers split the opposition vote.
They dominate campaign events in Iowa and New Hampshire, but they have not won over half the voters in their own party.
Democrats also castigated the court, arguing that it had paved the way for the wealthiest donors to further dominate campaign giving.
But Mr. Hevesi's advisers said the campaign's hand had been forced by Mr. Giuliani, whose attacks have dominated campaign news for days and left the candidate less able to get coverage for less explosive events like endorsements and policy proposals.
But it is to say that effective Republican campaigns would have dominated campaign coverage with these assertions and made Democrats try to refute them, rather than merely playing defence against Democratic criticisms of Iraq and Republican ethics.
The last time Vice President Al Gore talked Cuba policy -- about the fate of Elian Gonzalez, the young boy who was ultimately returned to Cuba over the objections of his Miami relatives -- it dominated campaign news for days.
Far from Mexican border, immigration still dominates campaign debate.
The story has now dominated campaign coverage for two days, so Hillary Clinton is obviously aware that her campaign is making the charge.
One pattern is fairly predictable: Candidates who briefly dominate campaign news tend to get small and usually temporary bumps in their support.
