CARACAS, Venezuela -- The voting table judges break into big smiles as the world's most famous election observer marches up to shake their hands.

"Mr. Carter! What a great pleasure to meet you," says one young man, pumping former President Jimmy Carter's hand.

Voters, particularly the older men and women who still recognize his well-creased face, smile, point and push forward scraps of paper for autographs. Carter tries not to look too eager to sign, but it's clear he loves the attention.

More important, his presence in the polling stations of the Venezuelan capital had made a difference.

"It's so important he's here. At this moment in our country the situation isn't easy," said Orlando Hernandez, a judge in Venezuela's presidential elections Dec. 6 that brought to power a popular failed coup leader, former Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez.

Carter "is watching out for our democracy," Hernandez said. "We have a great opinion of him."

Since leaving the Oval Office, Carter's trademark sandy hair has gone white, though his eyes are still penetratingly blue. At 74, he seems shorter and walks with a bit of a stoop. His Southern

drawl, however, remains resolute and a joke still produces the famous wide grin.

"People still call me Jimmy," he says with delight.

Nearly 18 years after leaving office, Carter remains that rarest of public servants, a president who has accomplished as much after his term expired as he did in Washington.

While many of this century's former presidents have quietly disappeared into retirement, Carter still spends much of his time traveling the world on an endless personal campaign, lending his image and influence to battles as diverse as building Habitat for Humanity homes for the poor in the United States to reducing guinea-worm contamination in Africa.

Since leaving Washington in 1981, he has overseen 20 of the world's most bitterly disputed elections, from democratic balloting by Liberians in 1997 to the end of Paraguay's dictatorship in 1993.

His successes in Latin America have made him a democratic tTC hero in the region. In 1989, he successfully halted an attempt by a Panamanian strongman, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, to fix that country's elections.

"He thought he was going to win and invited us in, which was a mistake for him," Carter said, chuckling. "He lost. And when he tried to steal the elections, we condemned the whole process."

Less than a year later, Carter was in Nicaragua when the ruling Sandinistas lost an election they also thought they were sure to win.

In a tense, late-night meeting, he persuaded defeated President Daniel Ortega Saavedra to step down, sympathetically offering tales of his own 1980 re-election loss and averting a dispute that might have prompted renewed warfare in Nicaragua.

Through Atlanta's Carter Center, which he created on leaving the presidency, focus has been brought to bear on a number of causes, including improving agricultural yields for small farmers in Africa, welfare-to-work programs in his native state of Georgia, child immunizations and human rights.

"He believes in human beings," said Santiago Canton, who has worked with Carter through the Organization of American States. "He believes in human rights. I think his contribution to democracy all over the world has been excellent."

Some believe Carter's motives aren't entirely selfless. Some analysts have suggested that his tireless post-presidential work stems in part from a desire to salvage the image of a failed presidency, known as much for soaring interest rates and a botched Iranian hostage rescue attempt as for its historic Camp David peace accord between Egypt and Israel.

Hints at shortcomings in his presidency still rankle Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.

Asked about the successes and failures of his presidency, Carter launches into a litany of his achievements: large-scale deregulation, a doubling of the size of the national park system, promotion of energy efficiency and the signing of a Mideast peace accord, his proudest achievement.

"Not one word of it has been violated in 20 years," he said. "I'm very pleased."

Not all of his efforts since leaving the presidency have been successful. Mediation in peace efforts in Ethiopia, Liberia and the Sudan fell flat. Lasting peace in the Middle East remains an unrealized goal, despite Carter's efforts.

He said he intends to keep working.

"I hope when people look back they'll remember what I did for peace and human rights," Carter said. "I hope they'll say, 'He was an ex-president who did something.' "

Pub Date: 12/15/98