Gallup Poll

CHAS. G. DUNN of Stevensville writes, "Not a week goes by that someone in the media raves about the greatness of Harry Truman."But at the end of his term in 1952 he returned to Missouri with a presidential rating somewhere between average and poor. What has brought about what I call a complete about face? Perhaps you can explain it or at least have an opinion."Chas., in the words of the lyricist, who can explain it, who can tell you why? Fools give you reasons, wise men never try. I'll try, but first, let's review the facts.

THE COMMISSION ON Presidential Debates keeps saying it wants President Bush and Governor Clinton to stand up face to face before a single moderator and an audience and debate.Why? Presidents of the United States are called on to perform a lot of different functions, but nothing in the Constitution or the U.S. Code suggests a duty in which a president needs to debate anybody.I have read a lot of history, and while I may have missed or forgotten something, I know of no instances in which a president furthered national aims by public debates of the sort the commission and the pro-Clinton camp keep insisting on.In fact, I know of only six occasions in history when a president of the United States debated publicly even in the format President Bush proposes -- with several journalists as questioners.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Divisions in the Roman Catholic Church over its centuries-old ban on women priests grew deeper yesterday during a nationwide meeting of bishops at the University of Notre Dame.Two-thirds of U.S. Catholics want women ordained, says a new Gallup Poll released yesterday by a coalition of seven Catholic protest groups. The coalition held its own conference at Notre Dame, called "Outside the Walls."Meanwhile, the 200 bishops hotly debated a controversial 81-page draft of a pastoral letter on women's issues.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy would have been 75 today. It is hard to realize that he has been dead for 29 years -- a period longer than that of his whole adult life.History has not been kind to his presidency. Several rankings by historians and political scientists in the 1980s, after passage of enough time from 1963 to have some validity, concluded that he was an "average" or "above average" president. Thirteenth or fourteenth out of the 36 through Jimmy Carter. The presidents who immediately preceded him and followed him, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson, were both ranked higher.

NEW YORK -- Skittishness about the presidential election and signs that the economy remains sluggish drove stocks lower yesterday."People are cleaning up the books ahead of the election," said John Schraff, a trader at Daiwa Securities America. "It's getting too close to call."The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 19.99, to 3,226.28, after bumping up against a recent high of 3,250. For the week, the Dow gained 18.64 points.The latest Newsweek/Gallup poll of likely voters showed President Bush trailing Gov. Bill Clinton by 39 percent to 41 percent, a smaller gap than previous polls have shown.

THIS just in, from the editorial page of the Cumberland Times-News:"Should you be able to see the doctor of your choice? Because they are enrolled in Health Maintenance Organizations, many Marylanders cannot unless they pay for health care out of their own pocket. All of that would change under legislation pending before the General Assembly."The legislation is called the Patient Access Bill. If enacted, it would allow HMO patients to see doctors of their choice. If the doctor agrees to accept the rates paid by the HMO, then the patient would pay 20 percent of the doctor bills and the HMO would pay the other 80 percent.

WASHINGTON -- Doctors who know they are infected with the AIDS virus and who do not notify their patients should face fines of up to $10,000 and up to 10 years' imprisonment, according to a proposal that Sen. Jesse Helms introduced on the Senate floor yesterday."

Marjorie H. Bright, a garden club president and environmental activist, died of a stroke Sunday at Union Memorial Hospital. She was 79, and had been a resident of Roland Park Place for the past six years. Marjorie Humphreys was born in Pittsburgh and earned a degree in economics from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. In the 1940s, she did statistical work for the Gallup Poll and the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. She helped write a statistical history of World War II psychological testing of military personnel for the War Department.

PRINCETON, N.J. -- U.S. support for the Persian Gulf war remains strong as the conflict enters its second week. The latest Gallup Poll of 834 Americans conducted Wednesday and Thursday nights shows that a week of fighting and media coverage have solidified, rather than dissipated, support for U.S. involvement and for President Bush.More than eight out of 10 Americans continue to support the decision to take military action against Iraq. Fewer than two out of 10 (16 percent) say it is a mistake -- unchanged from last week, and still about one-half the number who said it was a mistake immediately before the war began.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Al Gore escalated his public relations battle yesterday, hitting the TV airwaves for a second straight day and shrugging off polls that show eroding support for his post-election fight. "I said during the election to many of you that I didn't think the polls mattered," Gore said during a brief appearance outside his official residence here. With a strained laugh, he added: "I'm quite sure that the polls don't matter in this, because it's a legal question. And the principle again is a very simple one: When people cast votes, the votes should be counted."