TO OUR READERS

NOBODY KNOWS BETTER THAN the journalists who cover them why elections are called races. For the staff of TIME's Nation section, who among other things produce nearly all the magazine's political coverage and commentary, staying abreast of the cascade of election-year developments is a weekly test of intellectual speed and stamina. This is particularly true every fourth year, when a U.S. presidential campaign poses the ultimate challenge.

Consider this week's issue. When it became apparent that Steve Forbes was breaking out of the G.O.P. primary pack, in good measure on the strength of his flat-tax proposals and his personal fortune, our editors saw the perfect opportunity for a cover story examining both an important idea and the man who has tried to embody it. At the same time, however, the issue was to include TIME's second annual survey of the State of the Nation, a comprehensive snapshot of the social and economic condition of the U.S. today, and the national mood that arises from it.

That made it the kind of week that shows off to best advantage the talents of Priscilla Painton, the Nation section's indefatigable senior editor. Her mandate stretches from coast to coast; the campaign, and for that matter politics, is only one of the many stories that fall under her watch. Juggling it all, while meeting journalism's unforgiving deadlines, calls for mental rigor and tireless curiosity--something Painton has in abundance. "She has an unerring sense about where the real story is," says chief of correspondents Joelle Attinger. "She's always pushing the envelope to know more."

"I often suspect that Priscilla has some kind of antenna in her office that picks up new ideas and stories before anyone else has tuned into them," says assistant managing editor Steve Koepp. Of course, if there's a gene for journalism, Painton may enjoy a hereditary advantage. Her father Fred Painton is a TIME writer of long standing. Because he was frequently posted abroad, his daughter was born in Rome and graduated from high school in Paris, where, she says, "politics is inhaled with the first breath."

A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Painton worked at the Washington Post and the Atlanta Constitution, where she covered Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign, before joining us at TIME to cover the 1992 Clinton campaign. Those long months on the road gave her a respect for reporters that she will apply continually in this election year. "We won't be cynical, and we won't pontificate,'' she promises. "Our coverage has been, and will be, rooted in our reporting."