BY FRANK DAVIES

 WASHINGTON -- Low-key but persistent, a group of influential Democrats in
 Congress with close ties to the Cuban American National Foundation is
 increasing pressure on the Clinton administration to delay returning Elian
 Gonzalez to his father in Cuba until courts and Congress have time to deal with
 the case.

 Their biggest success has been in gaining the support of Vice President Al Gore.
 Hours before a state judge in Miami decided to hear custody arguments, Gore
 made his strongest statement on the case, questioning the INS decision to return
 the 6-year-old boy and calling for the courts to decide the issue.

 But congressional Democrats such as Rep. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who
 personally lobbied Gore, and Rep. Peter Deutsch of Broward, who talked to
 President Clinton about the case in Miami last month, express some frustration
 about their dealings with other administration officials.

 ``I have to chuckle when I hear the President say this is an apolitical decision,
 because that would make it the first apolitical decision from the administration,''
 said Menendez, the only Cuban-American Democrat in Congress and his party's
 fourth-ranking member in the House.

 Menendez said Monday that he helped persuade Gore on this issue:

 ``I am glad to see him take a strong position, but I told the vice president, `At the
 end of the day, you will be tied to the consequences of how the administration
 handles this.' ''

 `AN INS DECISION'

 Deutsch, from his talks with White House officials, said, ``I really don't think Bill
 Clinton made this decision -- I think it was an INS decision.''

 And Sen. Robert Torricelli, the New Jersey Democrat who heads his party's
 campaign committee to retake the Senate, said he was unable to persuade the
 National Security Council that it was essential to bring Elian's father to the United
 States to establish his genuine wishes.

 ``That's a fight I lost,'' Torricelli said Monday. ``Bill Clinton has been more helpful
 than not on most Cuba issues, but not on this one.''

 Many Democrats in Congress support the INS decision.

 But with Monday's circuit court decision in Miami, Democrats such as Torricelli,
 Menendez, Deutsch and Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island might have the time --
 and are well positioned -- to press the case for citizenship or permanent
 residency for the young Cuban rafter.

 VOTES NEEDED

 GOP Senate leaders such as Trent Lott and Florida's Connie Mack are leading
 the charge for citizenship, but ``Democrats could make the difference when you
 need 60 votes'' to overcome any filibuster, Torricelli said. Republicans have 55
 votes in the Senate.

 Another key Democrat, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, has called on family courts
 to handle the case, but has taken no position on the citizenship proposal.

 Kennedy, unlike his father, Sen. Ted Kennedy, supports the U.S. embargo on
 Cuba and has conducted a record fund-raising effort -- $33.4 million by the end of
 last year -- for House Democrats.

 Free Cuba PAC, the political action arm of the Cuban American National
 Foundation (CANF), has donated at least $3,500 to Patrick Kennedy's House
 campaign committee, and $5,000 each to two Senate Democrats -- Chuck Robb
 of Virginia and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut -- who are facing reelection.

 Torricelli's campaign committee also has benefited from CANF contributions.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald