NO WAY TO PICK A PRESIDENT: HOW MONEY & HIRED GUNS HAVE DEBASED AMERICAN ELECTIONS

Newspaper journalist Witcover has covered every presidential election since 1956 -- and does he ever yearn for the good old days. In this smartly focused if familiar-sounding critique of the election process, he remembers how Eisenhower and Kennedy relied on personal appearances and close advisers, ruefully comparing that to today's big-money, TV-appearance marathon. The author chastises ''the Dick Morris-ization of the process,'' the legal loopholes that allow wealthy candidates to bypass spending limits, and ''our collective apathy.'' But while he lucidly argues his subject from all angles, Witcover's outraged, finger-wagging tone isn't likely to sway many votes. B