Letters.(Letter to the Editor)

-- As Sen. Bob Smith's former press secretary, I can't say I was susurprised to see Bernadette Malone's anti-Smith article ("Smith vs. Sununu," Sept. 2) in NR. Your wonkish and establishment-type magazine never really understood what makes Sen. Smith and his supporters tick.

I was also disappointed, but again not surprised, to see how much the young NR editors apparently care what the polls say. I'm sure that Rockefeller Republican Warren Rudman would poll very well against Jeanne Shaheen, but does that make him right? And since when does NR butt in to Republican primaries, especially when the ideological differences are supposedly so slight?

One thing I learned as a press secretary is that if certain journalists and movement Republicans don't get stroked just so, then they think that a senator "has done very little" behind the scenes.

New Hampshire's roadsides are littered with the remains of those who underestimated Bob Smith. I would hope that after Sen. Smith sends John Sununu back to the private sector, NR would help Sen. Smith in his re- election fight as much as you have tried to hurt him in the primary.

Karen M. Hickey

Alexandria, Va.

-- In his City Desk column of Sept. 2, Richard Brookhiser states: "Dogs by contrast have neither pride, nor shame, nor awareness of playing a role in society."