CANDIDATES IN TOUCH?

When Missouri's candidates for U.S. Senate were together several days ago for a radio debate in St. Louis, the moderator asked some questions to which most constituents might think a serious candidate ought to know the answers.

This is a reality check on candidates, who are experts at high-sounding rhetoric that often has little substance. Modern politicking is rife with sound bites and quick phrases designed to get quoted in newspapers. Very often, candidates answer questions in such a way that listeners are left scratching their heads and saying, "What was that?"

So the KMOX radio moderator was on the right track when he asked Democrat Congressman Alan Wheat, former Republican Gov. John Ashcroft and Libertarian Bill Johnson for three pieces of information:

1. The current minimum wage.

2. The amount of foreign aid spending.

3. The size of the trade deficit to Japan.

Let's face it. Most constituents don't know the answers either -- nor most editorial writers. Calls to congressional offices and bureaucrats in Washington produced conflicting information about foreign aid and the Japan trade deficit. For what period? In dollars adjusted for inflation and fluctuations in currency exchange rates? See how confusing it gets? Suffice to say the dollar amounts are staggering in both instances, and it is unrealistic to expect a Senate candidate to know the answers, even if you carry around as many manila folders as Ashcroft, folders full of data on the most frequently asked questions on the campaign trail.

But the question on the current minimum wage speaks to a more practical side of the campaign. Most voters are either wage earners or employers, and they know the minimum wage by heart. They watch as the federal government mandates increases that are welcomed by workers but which add to the cost of doing business and, in the process, make goods and services more expensive. A candidate for any office who doesn't have a ballpark figure for the minimum wage is either over-engrossed in politics or out of touch with the working world.

It was a touchy moment for the candidates as they faced the open microphones and as thousands of potential voters anxiously awaited their responses.

Neither Wheat nor Ashcroft came close on the minimum wage. Johnson, the Libertarian who works at odd jobs and frequently volunteers for duty to help Afghanistan freedom fighters and Nicaraguan contras, "was the only one on the money for any of the answers, responding correctly that the minimum wage was $4.25," the Associated Press reported.

The question voters need to ask, however, is whether the next U.S. senator from Missouri ought to be elected on his knowledge of the minimum wage. The answer is no, but it would be comforting to voters if candidates indicated, from time to time, that they are truly in touch with the lives and jobs of the people they wish to represent.