European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 04, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday april 4, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary John King Linton hoping his debate athon will work never mind that lopsided Delegate count. Its getting harder and harder to Tell who a ahead As the democratic presidential Campaign unfolds in new York Bill Clinton is the runaway Leader in the race for the party a nomination near the Halfway Point in the Delegate Chase. But its Jerry Brown just off the starting blocks in the Delegate tally who a been driving the dynamics. So much so that Clinton has tossed out the front runners manual and is seeking almost daily debates with Brown leading up to tuesdays primaries in new York Wisconsin and Kansas. The two staged a new York debate doubleheader tuesday and have four More scheduled before the vote. Clinton is casting his Challenge in the Best possible Light saying he wants As Many opportunities As possible to speak directly to new York voters cutting out the rough and Tumble local Media As middlemen. But just last week Clinton was frowning on debates. Why the shift to borrow one of Clinton a favorite phrases this Isnit rocket science a this is an Effort to reverse the tide which right now is flowing against him a said democratic strategist Ann Lewis. A there Are times in a Campaign when you really done to need polls to know what the candidate is hearing. One of those times is when the acclaimed Leader challenges the other Guy to a series of  Brown sees it that Way too. A a there a a Little Rule in politics a you never debate a challenger until you re a loser a Brown said tuesday before he picked up a Victory in Vermont a democratic caucuses. A a that a the category he a in  that a a bit of an exaggeration a Clinton has 1,018.25 delegates of the 2,144 delegates needed for nomination compared with Browne a 159.25. Still the front runner clearly sees trouble. After Clinton lost Connecticut last week another round of doubts surfaced about his durability which translates into viability earlier in the race Brown was consid ered just barely off the fringe his ant politics message clashing with his lifelong political career. But now Brown is seen As a serious contender a he has virtually no Chance of winning enough delegates to claim the nomination but could deny it to Clinton by battering him in the late primaries. The Best Way for Clinton to end such talk is to beat Brown in new York a state More like Illinois or Michigan where Clinton won big. There is no guarantee hell succeed. A the elbows Are flying a says Lee Miringoff a pollster at Marist College in Poughkeepsie . A new York has become very  in seeking so Many debates Clinton is returning to the Media saturation strategy he believes rescued his Campaign in new Hampshire when allegations of draft dodging had him on the ropes. A the More direct Contact i have the better a he says. A these people need to get to know me and i want to give them that  he also wants them to hear More about Browne a Flat tax and other proposals ideas that Clinton complains Haven to been Given enough scrutiny by the Media. All strategy aside the states democratic chairman thinks the a debate Athony is the right recipe for the final Days of the turbulent new York Campaign. A a lot of people have not made up their minds a says John Marino. �?o1 think the most positive thing to happen Here is that we seem to be heading toward solid discussion of the  maybe. Many of the debates have been gentlemanly and substantive. But several were dominated by pointed personal attacks a with Clinton the most frequent target and Brown the Flamethrower. So the front runners gambit could Well backfire. A a it a a Gutsy Call a a deliberate strategy to let people see him sweat a to let people see that he wants it badly enough to make himself vulnerable Quot said Lewis. Quot but any Gamble goes both  c tit associated press Anna Quin Plewe elect a person not a position paper Here a a suggested response for elected officials of a certain age when asked whether they smoked marijuana a of . When political handlers Are putting together position papers in the years to come they should include an appendix they might As Well Call the rolling papers. Exhibit a might be the Way in which gov Bill Clinton handled the dope Issue when it came up this year. He backed he filled he Clung to the letter of the question a i have never broken the Laws of my country and finally he said that like so Many other people of his generation he did smoke marijuana when Young at Oxford when he was a Rhodes scholar. He then went on to explain. Never explain., one result was that Billy Crystal who has made the Oscar telecast finally Worth staying awake for looked into the camera the other night and said a did no to inhale a to a great Guffaw from the audience. Clinton a suggestion that he smoked dope without inhaling made him look like either a Fibber or a Dork. Saying you smoked dope but did no to inhale is. The equivalent of saying you drank Beer but did t Swallow it. In be been told that we re being particularly hard on Clinton this year and i understand Why some people Are saying so. But they re missing the Point. The Point is that in some sense he a in the wrong place at the wrong time running for president during a period of intense exploration of character issues. Like the rest of us he a still not sure where the land mines lie so he a wound up dancing around some questions Best served by standing Pat. There Are still purists who contend that character is not the Point that we should look solely at where candidates stand on the issues. That a foolish. We elect a whole person not just a position paper on National health insurance or tax cuts. If George Bush loses in november it will be for Many reasons but one will be that he just did no to seem like a real Guy someone who understood sad songs shrunken paychecks and Macaroni meals. Certainly the comely and charming Clinton who promises to stick with us until the last log Dies is running in part on his personality and we be decided to explore it fully. We re still working out which Cul de sacs in the lives of candidates Are dead ends and which teach us something important about the landscapes of their lives which issues Are character issues and which Are peripheral ones. Sometimes we get it wrong. Ultimately the voters decide. We assume that voters care about cheating lying Law breaking. But we still done to really have a handle on whether people think infidelity counts As cheating or lying. And we have a pretty Good idea that they re not much bothered by the breach of Laws that accompanied smoking a joint. Character issues Are fluid things Peculiar to their time. Just three decades ago no one then talked much about sexual harassment for instance today it could torpedo a Campaign. Drug use has become to hum too. The unwritten Rule for Public officials seems to be that they have to say they Only did it once or twice and that they did no to enjoy it. For All of us who lived in dorm rooms with Indian print bedspreads on the Walls at around the same time they did this seems not Only foolish but shortsighted. One of the things that was so surreal about Nancy Reagan in her trim Little Adolfo suits cruising the country to Tell kids to just say no was that she did no to have a clue to Why so Many of them were saying yes. You could make an argument that those who have had a Brush with drug use have some perspective on drug abuse. Instead of insisting that they did no to like it Why not admit that part of the allure of drugs is that they be been known to make you feel temporarily terrific that a Why people wind up using them to excess particularly if they have Lousy lives. In the Long Shadow of crack and alcohol abuse smoking marijuana has come to seem pretty tame. And it s apparent that soon it will be an anachronistic footnote in discussions of the character of the candidate. The drug Issue has become insignificant As it has become unabashed. Short Sweet without excuses or caveats just say yes. C the now Yolk time the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government