Smoking pot. Illicit sexual liaisons. Dodging the draft.

Not exactly the issues one would like to see deciding the winner of the 1992 presidential nomination. but so far, candidate Bill Clinton's alleged extra-marital romance with Jennifer Flowers has received far more press attention than his social security policies.

And while the country has watched President Bush, Bill Clinton an Jerry Brown come under unprecedented media scrutiny for past actions, Harvard's student politicians have watched nervously.

Many undergraduate politicians entertain notions of someday running for office. Some have already targeted which elective office to run for and when to launch their campaigns. For these students, the 1992 presidential election shows just how pervasive "the new rules" of politics have become.

American government officials are increasingly being held to standards of conduct to which most nuns could not adhere, students say.

Clinton's case is particularly disturbing to students politicos. Like them, the Arkansas governor has been plotting a political career since his college days.

Students watched with more than a little trepidation a decisions Clinton made in college--to try marijuana, to obtain a draft deferment, even his decision to pursue a political career--have been used against the governor in his campaign for the Democratic nomination.

While some student politicians say they will not let their lives be determined by "the new rules," others say they have learned a lesson from this year's election campaign: be careful about everything, from classes to clubs, finances, friends and even casual acquaintances.

Almost no student politico will admit to dreaming of White House splendor since their diaper days, but some began thinking about political careers early in life.

"I've always liked politics a lot," says Undergraduate Council Chair David A. Aronberg '93, who envisions a run for a seat in the legislature in Florida, his home state.

"When I was growing up, I looked up to politicians more than sports heroes. It was only recently that I started to look up to sports heroes more," Aronberg says.

For those with political dreams Harvard is a critical checkpoint, In this century, the College has been alma mater to several senators, numerous congressional representatives and two U.S. presidents.

"I've witnessed a lot of people from my constitutional law class, and through my interests at Harvard, who are already running for office," says Kenneth D. DeGiorgio '93, co-president of the Association Against Learning in the Absence of Religion and Morality national (AALARM).

DeGiorgio says tat running for elective office is not thigh on his agenda.

"I'm much more interested in judicial politics," he says. But for those who look to elective office as a long term goal, the Harvard experience can be valuable stepping stone.