Beyond that, their hope is that a President Bush would help push through Congress a bill outlawing municipal suits against them. As governor, Mr. Bush got just such a law through the State Legislature with the help of the National Rifle Association.

Even if those hopes are unrealized, the companies calculate, Mr. Bush would at least stop the kind of pressure the Clinton administration has put on them through Andrew M. Cuomo, the secretary of housing and urban development, to settle the suits.