(4 of 6)
I found your story on election masters to be a fascinating insight into the contemporary election process. Sadly, it showed how in this age of instant communication, the masters of the campaign seemed to turn the political process upside down. Pretesting ads is bad enough, but pretesting speeches for content and wording before delivery--even the State of the Union address--is mind boggling. Isn't the President supposed to give us his assessment of the State of the Union, not tell us what we think it is? Wouldn't it be nice if we had a process in which the candidates would tell us in their own words what they actually think in their own minds would be proper for the nation?
Then, once the candidates who were successful, and thus hired, were on the job, it would be nice for a change if they would listen to what the people said and act as if they heard us. That's the time for the pollsters to tell the politicians what the people want--after elections, not before them. ZALE SMILACK Atlanta Via E-mail
REPUBLICANS FOR CLINTON
I would like to thank the Republican Party for its inestimable assistance in re-electing President Clinton [ELECTION 96, Nov. 18]. After the landslide loss in 1994, only the astounding dislike--from sea to shining sea--for the Speaker of the House of Representatives kept Bill Clinton's re-election campaign from being dead in the water. When stocks shot up more than 96 points the day after the election, it was because Wall Street celebrated the prospect of at least two more years of bipartisan constraints on the government's spending habits. RICHARD AMUNDSON Augusta, Georgia
Here is a list of people responsible for the re-election of President Clinton: Alfonse D'Amato, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh and Kenneth Starr. These individuals were so completely blinded by their vindictiveness toward the Clintons that they failed to see the oncoming backlash that prompted voters to overcome their reluctance to put the fox back in the henhouse. LARRY NEAL Jerseyville, Illinois
BUCKLEY'S ROLE
Your postelection coverage included several incorrect statements about me as Bob Dole's campaign communications director [NOTEBOOK, Nov. 18]. You reported that I never met with Dole after the Republican Convention and that he believed I had leaked information to the media.
The facts are that despite Dole's being on the road throughout the autumn, I met with him on at least nine occasions after the convention. And your reporters surely can testify that while I plumbed, I did not leak. You also claimed that I was the author of a "strategy" for Dole to attack the New York Times. On the contrary, I consistently counseled restraint in making the media an issue in the campaign. I hope you will set the record straight on these matters. JOHN BUCKLEY Washington
PUKKA GENTLEMAN
In her analysis of why Dole never caught fire [ELECTION 96, Nov. 18], Peggy Noonan misses the point. After a lifetime in Congress of promoting more and more taxes to cut the deficit, Bob Dole's talking about a 15% tax cut had about as much credibility as George Bush's saying in 1992 he would never agree with the Democrats to another tax increase: none. DONALD THORSON Alexandria, Virginia