LETTERS: GEN. POWELL'S POTENTIAL

To the editor:

Two items in the news seem to have a continuing life. A third party is mentioned in some context every several days, while Colin Powell's possible presidential candidacy remains alive and well. Two recent circumstances suggest an interesting possible third-party scenario.

Recently, Sen. Sam Nunn said that the "more extreme elements in both parties, right and left, dominate the political process ... and if this continues, we'll have a third party."

Now comes Gen. Colin Powell and takes first place in recent polls as the most desirable candidates for president, casting himself as a Rockefeller Republican while courting accommodation with the Republican Party. (To realize how this must irritate the so-called conservative element of the party, one need only recall the futile efforts of Nelson Rockefeller to build the party into a broad centrist coalition.)

Perhaps the time has come for the assemblage of just such a majority Democratic Republic Party. Certainly, it would take some doing, but some strange things can happen very quickly, especially when public thirst for drastic action is at a high, such as right now. Some strong forces could, conceivably, be at work on this right now. This would relegate the "more extreme elements ... right and left" to their own respective parties.

With Gen. Colin Powell's prevailing popularity, such a scenario could be a ready-made vehicle for his presidential candidacy. Nelson Rockefeller may yet smile in his grave.

GILBERT DEGENHARDT

Cape Girardeau