Senate ‘Jurors’ Reluctant to Confide Reactions : Vote: They decline to comment on whose testimony they believe. Nor do they hint how they will cast ballots at Tuesday’s session.

WASHINGTON —  Many of the senators who ultimately will be the jury in the case of Hill vs. Thomas said Friday that they would wait until the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings end before passing judgment or offering detailed remarks.

“I will not be giving spot running comments,” Sen. J. James Exon (D-Neb.) said from his home in Lincoln, Neb., as he watched on television while Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and his accuser on sexual harassment charges, Anita Faye Hill, gave their dramatic testimony.

“As a member of the ‘jury,’ I have a responsibility to listen and not to talk,” added Exon, one of 14 key Democratic senators who initially supported Thomas and then helped force a one-week postponement of the confirmation vote until Tuesday.

While two nonmembers of the Judiciary Committee joined the live audience and others watched the hearing on television, many occupied themselves mainly with long-planned Columbus Day weekend engagements back home. While they caught parts of the hearings on TV or radio, they planned to watch videotapes or read transcripts later, aides said.

Sen. Hank Brown (R-Colo.), who has been a Thomas-supporting member of the committee, said after Thomas’ and Hill’s opening statements: “They are both very believable, both extremely well-qualified, very impressive.”

But, he added, identifying the dilemma that his colleagues will have to resolve before the scheduled vote Tuesday, they are “giving totally opposite testimony.”

Sens. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.), both of whom had said that they would vote for Thomas before Hill’s allegations surfaced, attended the hearings in the ornate Russell Caucus Room.

But many senators were flying to or attending events back home.

An aide said that Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.) heard the first part of the hearings on her car radio as she drove to National Airport here, watched some more on television as she waited for her plane to depart then saw some more after she arrived in Kansas City and drove to the home of an aide.

“Now she’s about to walk out the door for a speech in Winfield,” aide Larry Shainman said. “She will watch the tape later.”

Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) spent much of the hearing on a plane to California, where he plans to attend long scheduled events in the Riverside area.

“We’re pulling all the transcripts and faxing them out to him,” Press Secretary H. D. Palmer said.

Senate staff members watched television sets in fascination even as they fielded dozens of telephone calls from constituents who were expressing their opinions. Seymour’s offices here and in California had received 754 calls for Thomas and 641 against him by mid-afternoon, Palmer said.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), one of the 14 Democrats critical to Thomas’ fate, was in the Las Vegas area visiting high schools. He was able to see Thomas’ and Hill’s opening statements and was “impressed by both,” aide Larry Werner said. But Reid declined further comment, saying in a statement: “I view myself as if I am a member of a jury. I want to be able to weigh all the evidence presented before I make a decision.”

Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), who has backed Thomas but supported a vote delay to allow for new hearings, was in Georgia “on private time and not watching” the hearings, Press Secretary Scott Williams said.

Does that mean that Nunn, who is a golf enthusiast, was on the course?

“I hope the weather’s nice,” Williams said, but added: “I don’t know what he’s doing.”