Portsmouth Herald RAN 2/11/96, Pg C1 By Steve Haberman Herald Staff People and politicians alike are bemoaning the emphasis on the use of the electronic media to get candidate messages out this year, but that emphasis really began during the 1992 presidential primary season. However, rather than the plethora of 30-second, negative television ads New Hampshire voters are seeing this year, in 1992 the media emphasis was on televised debates. There were a record seven of them during that primary season. And while it is only really a primary race on the Republican side this year, in the previous primary there were important contests in both political parties. That despite the fact that Republicans had an incumbent running. Political commentator Patrick Buchanan, who is again a serious contender after his upset victory over Texas Sen. Phil Gramm in the Louisiana Republican caucus this past week, went after incumbent President George Bush. The issue was Bush's ``Read my lips'' promise not to raise taxes during the 1988 campaign in which he defeated Kansas Sen. Bob Dole. Bush wound up raising taxes in 1990, with Dole's support. Unlike this year in which Republican candidates were having a tough time coming up with an issue to excite voters right up until the time New Jersey publisher Steve Forbes spent millions to make ``flat tax'' a household phrase, the issue on everyone's mind in 1992 was the economy. With unemployment at near record levels, bankruptcies at an all-time high, and banks failing all across the state, voters were looking for a candidate who offered a way out. Failed policy Part of the reason Bush had such a hard time against Buchanan in New Hampshire was the perceived failure of the president's economic policy. In his first primary campaign visit to the state late in 1991, Bush admitted the New Hampshire economy was in ``free fall.'' The president's much publicized visit to a grocery store and his expressed amazement at the automatic checkout machines, reinforced the public impression that Bush was out of touch with the economic pain the state's citizens were in. It gave Buchanan the opening he needed to split the Republican Party and garner over 37 percent of the primary vote in New Hampshire. Buchanan's strong showing as an arch-conservative was the beginning of the Republican Party's swing to the right which is even more in evidence in this year's primary. Over on the Democratic side, former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas was separating himself from the rest of the pack, which initially included Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerry, former California Gov. Jerry Brown, New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, and Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin. Tsongas argued that rebuilding the country's manufacturing base was the answer to its economy problems, and that message played well in New Hampshire which was, at the time, losing what little manufacturing it had left. Tsongas wins Tsongas ended up winning the 1992 primary, garnering 33 percent of the vote, but later dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination citing money problems. Media preoccupation with Tsongas' bout with cancer years earlier also fueled his desire to drop out. In 1992, the entire presidential selection process led by New Hampshire was different. It allowed Clinton, who dubbed himself the ``Comeback Kid'' as a result of his solid second place finish in the prestigious Granite State primary, to consolidate his forces, organize in other, larger states in which primaries would not take place until June, and pull out a victory. This year, the major primaries are condensed into a period lasting just over a month. Candidates who do not come, as Buchanan said, ``roaring out of New Hampshire,'' may have a difficult time getting enough delegates to win the nomination on the first or second ballot. It could throw the Republican National Convention, scheduled to take place in August in San Diego, into a free-for-all. While it was a different time, with different rules and many different players, the 1996 primary echoes many of the themes and situations that first occurred in 1992. Early dropouts For example, in both primaries individuals who were seen as potential front-runners chose not to participate in the process to the end. In December of 1991, New York Gov. Mario Cuomo withdrew from the Democratic primary saying he saw his role as governor as requiring the majority of his effort. Despite that withdrawal, Cuomo still received almost 4 percent of the vote in the 1992 primary. Late last year, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Gen. Colin Powell, announced he would not seek the Republican nomination. Powell, as had Cuomo four years earlier, had a good deal of popular support prior to the announcement. Another similarity between the primaries is the early withdrawal of sitting governors because of money problems. In 1992, it was Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, a Democrat, and the first black to be elected governor, who reassessed his presidential bid when his fund-raising lagged. In the 1996 campaign it was California Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican, who decided to back out of the race when the money he had thought would come his way didn't materialize. In the 1992 primary campaign the character of Gov. Bill Clinton became an issue among his Democratic opponents, and in 1996, President Bill Clinton's character is again being challenged, this time by those seeking the Republican nomination. Character issue It was while Clinton was campaigning here in New Hampshire in 1992 that news about his alleged affair with Gennifer Flowers first came to light. It forced Clinton to appear with his wife on national television to address the issue. This year, it is the character of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the involvement of both the Clintons in the Whitewater real estate deal that is being questioned. The president has also been accused of improper behavior with another woman, Paula Jones, an Arkansas state employee. Whatever the year, it appears New Hampshire remains the proving ground for presidential contenders. It is here they develop the strategies and hone their focus on the issues they hope will take them to the White House. Much has been said recently about how big money is buying the New Hampshire primary this year, and about it being the last time the rest of the nation will look toward New Hampshire in making its decision on who will lead it. However, New Hampshire remains the first true test of potential candidates and, as such, will, at least once every four years, maintain a firm grasp on both the national imagination and the race for the White House.