MISSOURI COMMENTARY: WHERE HEADLINE NEWS ISN'T NEWS

Time was when political parties took pride in their philosophical differences. In Abraham Lincoln's day, it was a badge of honor for Republicans to denounce the horrors of slavery and for many Democrats to stutter apologies on its behalf. Theodore Roosevelt didn't hesitate to separate himself from the Mark Hanna wing of the Republican Party on economic, social and conservation issues.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Franklin Roosevelt was a liberal and was at great philosophical variance even with his own vice president as well as his mostly conservative Republican challengers.

Johnson-Goldwater, Nixon-Humphrey, Nixon-McGovern, Reagan-Carter, Reagan-Mondale, Bush-Dukakis and Clinton-Bush -- there was no doubt in each case that the voters had distinct and clear choices when they entered the voting booths.

The distinctions -- at least on the surface -- have gotten blurred this year.

In his campaign for the GOP nomination, Bob Dole ran unambiguously as a candidate of the Republican right. If you read the transcript of the final debate in the pivotal South Carolina primary, you would find Bob Dole as the unapologetic pro-lifer, the proud supporter of the National Rifle Association and a man who welcomed the flying of the Confederate flag over the South Carolina capitol. The Bob Dole of San Diego was none of that. He was Bob Dole the moderate, closely affiliated with his moderate prime-time TV friends Colin Powell, Christine Todd Whitman and Susan Molinari.

On the Democratic side, Bill Clinton, the liberal advocate of sweeping changes in health care, is now the Bill Clinton of welfare reform, crime busting, balanced budgets and a constitutional amendment protecting victims of crime.

The 1996 race is a mad dash to the middle. In most previous election, the candidates espoused their beliefs and hoped that they would get a fair share of the moderate center. In 1996 the candidates will not leave it just to hope.

As best he can, each candidate plants himself in the middle and tries to avoid those issues that push him further out on either end of the political spectrum. No more do we hear the Bob Dole of pro-life, pro-NRA, pro-Confederate flag, but the Bob Dole of middle America. No more do we hear the Bill Clinton of national health care and gay rights, but the Bill Clinton of middle America.

The San Diego and Chicago conventions reflected this headlong rush to the center. To woo the moderates, the Republicans had to hide away their zealots: Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan and the rest. For the Democrats, Jesse Jackson and Mario Cuomo used to be ready for prime time, but no way in '96. Christopher Reeve and Sarah Brady became premiere Democratic spokespersons.

National conventions are now irrelevant to the American political process. They once were the place where each party featured its best and brightest as well as its worst and dumbest to set forth deeply held beliefs. Political conventions are now TV Emmy Award productions were the major headline news is no news at all.

The networks aren't going to be fooled the next time. If the presumed success of a national political convention is measured in how little news is generated, then television networks will and should kiss them goodbye.

Give each party one hour for the presidential candidate's acceptance speech and leave the rest to C-SPAN and cable. We are down to politics by anecdote and daily prime-time attention is no longer justified. Come to think of it, the attention of the American people may no longer be justified.

~Tom Eagleton of St. Louis is a former U.S. senator from Missouri.