Campaign 2000 - The Nearest Run Thing.

The Duke of Wellington called the battle of Waterloo "the nearest run thing you ever saw," but he never ran for president. However gratified conservatives may be by the final result, the postelection election of 2000 bodes ill in several ways.

Justice John Paul Stevens worried that "the nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian" of the law was wounded. After decades of capricious and arbitrary decisions, we can only hope so. In the short run, however, political operatives will exploit the litigation route to overturn elections. Americans long ago began losing the power to make their own laws; now they will begin to lose the power to pick their own lawmakers. The power of the triumphant judiciary exists alongside growing demands for rule by plebiscite, or even rule by mood. Sen.-elect Clinton called for abolishing the Electoral College; Vice President Gore's Florida strategy depended on divining the intentions of voters. Republican government rests on the will of the people, expressed in deliberate and definite forms. Government by protest is the road to Caesarism. These symptoms will become acute if, as seems likely, America enters a period of political deadlock. The already-famous map of red and blue counties, carried by Bush and by Gore, shows the country's narrowly poised regional and ideological balance.

The last month and a half tested the mettle of both candidates. Al Gore flunked. He grabbed for power with the humility of Woodrow Wilson, and the ease of Jimmy Carter. Liberals will parade him for a time as a martyr, then dismiss him as a failure. George W. Bush wisely kept himself out of the daily fray. His few public appearances, however, were meager and uninspiring. The Republican camp often gave signs of shock (admittedly in shocking circumstances) that were not encouraging.

The president-elect can advance a serious, but doable conservative agenda (see "The Week," December 18). He has shown, at various times in his career, a winning personality, and considerable political skill. He didn't pick an easy time to develop these traits.