The Safe Seats

DEMOCRATS

ARIZONA Dennis DeConcini's fight against Robert Bork hasn't hurt him in his conservative state.

HAWAII The case against Spark Matsunaga is that he is "too liberal" and "too lazy." No matter.

MAINE Popular George Mitchell is concentrating on the race to succeed retiring majority leader Robert Byrd.

MARYLAND Alan Keyes, one of two black Republicans nominated for the Senate, will lose to Paul Sarbanes.

MASSACHUSETTS They still love Ted Kennedy.

MICHIGAN Although Donald Riegle has been accused of financial conflicts, he suits Michigan voters fine.

MONTANA Garrulous John Melcher is a prime G.O.P. target. But ConradBurns, 53, doesn't excite voters.

NEW MEXICO New Mexico Jeff Bingaman, a first-term Democrat, should win handily.

NEW YORK Republicans suffered a recruitment failure in their halfhearted effort to challenge Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

NORTH DAKOTA Old (80) and recovering from surgery, Quentin Burdick is still powerful.

TENNESSEE Jim Sasser's opponent has resorted to comparing Sasser's voting record to Ted Kennedy's. It hasn't worked.

TEXAS Lloyd Bentsen is a cinch to defend his Senate seat.

VIRGINIA Former Governor Charles Robb is a lock.

WEST VIRGINIA Robert Byrd, 70, will step aside as majority leader but have no trouble retaining his seat.

REPUBLICANS

DELAWARE Maverick Republican William Roth seems a shoo-in over Lieutenant Governor S.B. Woo.

INDIANA The state's most popular Republican Senator is not Dan Quayle. it's the wise and wry Richard Lugar.

MISSOURI John Danforth, a Senate moderate, should crush Democrat Jay Nixon.

PENNSYLVANIA John Heinz, of the ketchup family, has been called "the best Senator" -- and that was by a Democrat.

UTAH Orrin Hatch won in 1976, defeating incumbent Frank Moss. this year he faces Moss' son Brian. same names, same results.

VERMONT James Jeffords should find running for the Senate little different from his seven successful House campaigns.