Primary Postmortem

GOVERNMENT PROFESSOR Roger Masters thinks he has a cure for the sound-bite-infested Presidential campaign: a three-week election season, during which every television station is required to provide candidates with two hours' free prime-time.

The plan works like this: the party losing the next Presidential election would nominate its candidate in 1994. This "Leader of the Opposition" could debate the incumbent President, whose party would choose its candidate in the summer of 1996.

Then, says Masters, a short election campaign with free media access might focus more attention on the differences between parties and programs, reducing the influence of 30-second ads, media consultants, and the PAC money that buys them.

Masters