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Rep. Rick Lazio and Hillary Rodham Clinton continued = trading swings=20 on the gas tax as they campaigned for the Senate yesterday, = with=20 Clinton accusing Lazio of "siding with the Republican leadership = instead=20 of the needs and interests of the people of New York" on the = issue.=20

Campaigning in the Hudson Valley, Lazio continued a two-day = assault=20 on Clinton's support of maintaining the 18-cent federal gas = tax and=20 then used tough rhetoric to declare that "trust" and "character" = were=20 campaign issues during an evening fundraiser in Manhattan that = raised more=20 that $1 million.=20

Clinton, meanwhile, lashed out at Lazio's plan to repeal = 4.3 cents=20 of the gas tax, calling it "a bad deal for New York and a = potential=20 bonanza for the oil companies."=20

During a visit to a shopping mall in the Buffalo suburbs, = Clinton=20 said that "the gas tax is one of the few exceptions where = we=20 actually get more money back than we send to Washington."=20

While New York sends $300 million a year to Washington in = gas=20 taxes, Clinton said, it gets back $477 million in highway funding. =

In a speech to a woman's group in Buffalo, Clinton said she = makes=20 no apologies to critics who call her a candidate with "an agenda." =

"I have an agenda about education ... and when it comes to = health=20 care, I have an agenda," Clinton told the group Taking Action in = Politics.=20 "And when it comes to the economy, I do have an agenda, I want to = see it=20 keep growing."=20

Lazio's campaign said he raised $1.7 million at his = $1,000-a-plate=20 Sheraton Towers fundraiser last night and another $500,000 to = $800,000=20 during a two-day swing around the state that mixed money raising = with gas=20 station appearances to attack Clinton's support of the gas = tax.=20 Lazio says New York's transportation funds can be made up from the = federal=20 budget surplus.=20

Appearing with New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani last = night,=20 Lazio launched some of his toughest attacks yet on Clinton.=20

He accused her of "ideological extremism" and "unbridled = ambition,"=20 and referred to ethics issues more directly than he has to date, = saying=20 New Yorkers "will not elect a person that they cannot trust." = "Remember a=20 few years ago people said character doesn't count?" Lazio said.=20 "...Character is everything in public service."=20

With Lazio's aides saying they are anticipating an imminent = soft=20 money attack from Democratic Party entities, Lazio also stepped up = his=20 criticism of five recent Clinton ads attacking his record, = contrasting her=20 approach with Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's. "Pat Moynihan never = needed=20 to use attack ads like this," Lazio said. "But maybe, Mrs. = Clinton, we=20 shouldn't expect you to know that, because you've never seen a New = York=20 campaign before."=20

Giuliani joined in the criticism. He told the crowd it = would be a=20 mistake to have two Democrats in the Republican Senate, and echoed = Lazio's=20 efforts to tie Clinton to high oil prices. Giuliani said President = Bill=20 Clinton's poor handling of relations with oil producers was = responsible=20 for high prices and called Hillary Clinton "too afraid to = take any=20 real position on it."=20

Lazio left early to vote in Washington, aides said, and = they said=20 they felt he was faring well against Clinton's ad attack. "She's = in danger=20 of having it backlash on her," said campaign manager Bill Dal Col. =

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