European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes column Walter r. Mears democrats ready to target Quayle in 1992 to dlr ii acc i Nam i l _ _ a it. I  has Seldom been much mileage in vice presidential candidates As Campaign issues but some democrats think that with Dan Quayle As their target they can make 1992 an exception. Nobody comes on stronger about making Quayle a major Issue than the Man who lost the vice presidency to him last time. A Damn right a said sen. Lloyd m. Bentsen of Texas. A if he a still on the ticket he will  president Bush has said that Quayle absolutely will be his running mate again in 1992, a commitment that overrules but has not quashed rumours of a possible switch. A change  be Bush a style. He is committed Long in Advance. He praises Quayle a performance As vice president. And he puts a Premium on loyalty. Nor arc there promising precedents. The last overhaul of a ticket that won was in 1944, when Harry s. Truman became Franklin d. Roosevelt a vice presidential nominee. Dwight d. Eisenhower thought about a switch in 1956, suggesting to Richard m. Nixon that he might be better off running the Pentagon than serving As vice president As he prepared to seek the White House himself. Nixon knew better. Nixon considered John b. Con Nally As a second term running mate but did no to push it. Spiro t. Agnew was by then a conservative favorite and con Nally Wasny to yet established As a Republican. President Ford remodeler his appointed ticket in 1976, dropping vice president Nelson a. Rockefeller which placated conservative republicans. Ford ran and lost with sen. Robert j. Dole of Kansas. There is always midterm speculation about vice presidents their relationships with the Boss and their prospects for the Anthony Lewis in lays Svalj he s dist or oust fim6.listb4 to this. Want a future. That a a special problem for Quayle who As Nixon said a starts from a Low base and he would be the first to admit  Quayle does but he also insists that the poll ratings reflect inaccurate perceptions not reality and that his standing is improving. Nixon who served two terms As vice president and got to pick three vice presidential nominees himself said in a television interview that Quayle has a taken All the criticism with pose with  a in my View Dan Quayle will be on the ticket not just because George Bush is Loyal which he is perhaps to a fault but because he will not be a liability by the time the election Rolls around a Nixon said. Bentsen predictably forecasts the opposite saying that voters will be pay ing More attention to Quayle not less m the next National election. A they think Here we go another Cycle and a president he a mortal like All of us and we ought to be thinking again about this Choice a Bentsen said. Senate majority Leader George a Mitchell a Maine Isnit so sure. A i think its too Early to Tell whether it can be used and what effect it would have a Mitchell says noting that there was no Clear Impact on the 1988 election. Republican pollster Lance tarrance of Houston said earlier this year that he thinks Quayle could become a major Issue and a significant problem for the republicans in 1992. Tarrance said that As president Bush seeks a second term voters will begin to focus on Quayle As a potential president not Only As an understudy. Perhaps so. And perhaps it would turn some votes away from Bush. But it would have to be a tight race to make a discernible difference on election Day. Unless Quayle blundered into a new controversy its difficult to see How the democrats could Hammer him any harder than they did in 1988. As he campaigns for Republican candidates in this years elections Quayle a Standard response to recurring questions about his 1992 role is that the Choice will be made by the president and that he is simply going to keep doing his Job. Bush says he is doing it Well. So does sen. Richard g. Lugar whose name was on the guess lists in 1988 until Bush chose his Junior partner from Indiana for the vice presidential nomination. Lugar said Quayle does a Good Job but added that he Isnit surprised at the persistent image problem. A a it a sort of hard to break the Mold a Lugar said. A i think Dan Quayle understands that. Its not a Short term  Walter r. Mears has reported on National politics Lor the a More than 26 years Why does the american Public want executions Muir. A a. A. A one of the most striking differences Between the United states and other Industrial countries is America s enthusiasm for  the economist of London thus summed up a phenomenon that puzzles Many foreign friends of the United states. The death penalty has been effectively abandoned in All the countries of Western Europe and most in latin America. South Africa used to execute More prisoners than any other country. But on feb. 2 president de Klerk in announcing Steps toward negotiation suspended All executions. The United states is now the execution capital of the Western world. There Are about 2,200 prisoners on death Row. And executions Are taking place at a quickening Pace As Legal constraints Are removed. It used to be assumed that a juvenile who committed a capital crime would not be put to death. But the supreme court has now held that there is no constitutional Barrier to such executions and they have begun. Mental retardation is not a reason for withholding the death penalty either. We learn that from the Case of Dalton Prejean who was electrocuted in Louisiana Early Friday morning. Prejean killed a policeman in 1977. His guilt was not in Issue. His responsibility was. To put it another Way the question was whether a civilized society would take the life of a criminal whose nature had been shaped As Prcz can a had. Ii was 17 when he shot the policeman. Doctors found that he had suffered brain damage at birth or in childhood. The aunt who brought him up beat him with belts and Sticks. He had an in of 76. An All White jury imposed the death sentence on Prejean a Black Man. Studies have shown that prosecutors Are far More Likely to seek the death penalty and juries to impose it when Blacks kill Whites. The supreme court has held that fact too to be constitutionally irrelevant. Last week chief Justice William h. Rehnquist again urged a swifter Legal process for executions. He sought passage of a Bill before Congress that would allow prisoners on death Row to bring Only one constitutional Challenge in a Hareas Corpus petition in the Federal courts. At present prisoners May bring successive petitions. It May take eight years or More Between the time a person is convicted in a state court and the moment when Federal courts end their consideration and remove the last obstacle to execution. The chief Justice said a system that allows such delays a verges on the  certainly it imposes cruelty and frustration on the parties. But speeding the process up by limiting constitutional challenges would not Deal with the real Legal problem underlying that process. The problem is inadequate Legal representation at the Start. Inadequate is indeed too weak a word. Most of the people who Are on death Row in this country got there simply because they had no effective lawyers help at their trial or original Appeal. Stephen b. Bright a lawyer for the Southern prison ii a  committee in Atlanta was teaching in Washington 10 years ago when he was asked to help prepare a petition to the supreme court in a death Case. He expected to find a massive trial record reflecting a careful defense. He found almost nothing. The students in our clinical program tried shoplifting cases better than this capital Case had been tried a Bright told a House judiciary subcommittee last week. The defendant had a court appointed lawyer but he presented no evidence. Many lawyers have encountered the same circumstances coming in to represent someone already on death Row and finding that crucial evidence was never presented. Prejeant a jury was never told about his mental problems or history of abuse. For those reasons the idea that Only especially evil criminals Are selected for execution is a joke. The ones who lose Are poor mentally impaired Black a and had lawyers who did not take the Case seriously. The results Are so unfair that half of All state death sentences have been set aside in recent years during the Long process of Federal Hareas Corpus. The american Public wants executions even though there is no evidence that capital punishment deters crime. And politicians respond. Louisiana parole Board recommended that Hir Rudy Joe or commute prejeant a sentence but be ret sea. Candidates everywhere Are vying to see who can push the execution switch faster. Why somewhere in our history and our violent society must lie the reasons for the rage to kill. New York times