LET'S TRY CHOOSING CANDIDATES WHO CAN LEAD CREATIVELY DURING REAL CRISIS

In case it might have slipped our minds, the reason we hold state and national campaigns is to choose the best candidates available.

Voters don't always select the best candidate available, and we continue to practice this dangerous habit because we seldom conduct any post-election ritual of gathering up the losers, dusting them off and discovering that the rejected candidates would have been much better than the men and women we chose on election day.

Chances are many readers have already made up their minds about the candidates they will choose for president and governor and senator. We're a good deal less certain about our choices for offices at the bottom of the ballot, not because we question the candidates' qualifications, but because we don't even know their names.

The United States is one of the few countries on Earth in which lack of knowledge about candidates, their records and their abilities is considered a virtue.

Most of us have never seriously considered the qualifications we want in our elected officials. Outside of the difference in political parties, and whether their TV commercials strike us as reasonable or irrational, we have reached no other criteria with which to judge candidates.

Thank heavens, television wasn't around when Abraham Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas in 1860 or the present geography of America might include only a handful of states in separate nations.

There are at least six characteristics we voters should examine every time we choose a president, a governor, a senator or even a mayor. I'll list those I believe are essential. Feel free to add your own.

* First, our elected officials should have above-average communication skills, since political executives must lead a parade of citizens who have been persuaded to join in. Teddy Roosevelt called it the bully pulpit, and he filled it better than almost everyone who preceded him as president. Since TR, we've had FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan, all masters of oratorical panache and thus successful in pursuing their goals.

* Secondly, we want leaders with organizational capacity. Was there ever any doubt that Ike couldn't master the details of the Oval Office after planning D-Day? His two-time opponent, Adlai Stevenson, was labeled by many as an egghead, a term that denotes fumbling and uncertainty. We chose Ike.

* Thirdly, political skill after an election is just as important as it is before. Jimmy Carter seemed unable to charm key policymakers in Washington or abroad in the same manner he displayed defeating Gerald Ford in 1976. In contrast, just hours after Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon Johnson was mustering support on Capitol Hill for his programs, successfully winning legislation that languished during JFK's tenure.

* Fourth, leaders need cognitive qualities that let them see beyond the small details, moving to a much broader picture. To his credit, Richard Nixon's first term began to move America toward worldwide leadership and eventual dominance. Nixon's move to work with the Soviet Union an his accommodation with China were major turning points for the United States.

* Fifth, presidents and governors need policy vision. Had Ike been president in 1962, it is highly unlikely the U.S. would ever have been dragged into the war in Vietnam. While in the Oval Office, Eisenhower rejected France's plea for U.S. troops in 1954, declaring the jungles of Southeast Asia would "absorb our divisions by the dozens." By 1965, LBJ was sending dozens of divisions to Asia's jungles where they met a resistance Eisenhower knew about and Johnson had not the slightest clue.

* Lastly, there's emotional intelligence, the kind of maturity that lets some deal constructively with problems while others demonstrate such emotional undercurrents they lose the ability to lead effectively. FDR had this quality. Oliver Wendell Holmes described Roosevelt as possessing a "second-class mind and a first-class temperament," allowing him to win an unprecedented four terms as president. Those who lacked FDR's temperament, such as Nixon, LBJ, Carter and Clinton, either suffered defeat, resigned in disgrace or were impeached.

How do you rate George W. Bush and Al Gore?

Mel Carnahan and John Ashcroft?

Jim Talent and Bob Holden?

Am I asking the question too soon and would you like more time to evaluate all of these candidates? Fine. You have until November 7.

May I suggest that any of the above would make a decent choice suitable for relatively painless times.

What we really want and need, however, are those candidates who will provide our state and nation with creative leadership during a real crisis.

It's your decision to make. Good luck.

~Jack Stapleton of Kennett is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.