By Paul Gray/Reported by David Ellis

CAMPAIGN CONFESSIONS

A checklist of the political season's hot new defensive offense.

The most popular political trend this year seems to be: when in doubt, hang it out. Candidates are telling more about themselves than voters may want to hear.

FLORIDA

Gubernatorial candidate Lawton Chiles revealed that he took antidepression medication; in an attempt to force Chiles to reveal all his health records, his Democratic-primary challenger, Bill Nelson, released his own and disclosed that he had once had hemorrhoids.

TEXAS

Ann Richards survived a primary opponenet's drug-test gambit, which revived stories about her alcoholism and rumored past drug use; her Republican opponent, Clayton Williams, told of his youthful trips to get "serviced" by protitutes.

ARKANSAS

Sheffield Nelson, Republican opponent of incumbent Governor Bill Clinton, released campaign literature detailing a childhood spent "defending his mother and sisters against an alcoholic father who beat and verbally abused his family."

MASSACHUSETTS

Hoping to remind voters about Congressman Barney Frank's embarrassing relationship with a male prostitute, Republican John Soto took an AIDS test and sent out a press release when he passed.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Henry McMaster, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, revealed that he had smoked pot in college 20 years ago. The now commonplace disclosure had an unintended effect: Democratic prosecutor Jim Anders first said he had "no choice" but to prosecute, but then backed away.