Term Limits Would Renew US Congress

The article ``New Breed of Lawmakers Trained to Run Country,'' Nov. 15, is encouraging. From a practical standpoint, however, the only way that we are going to elect many of these new-breed state legislators and municipal leaders to the United States Congress is through term limits and campaign finance reform. This would provide the necessary open seats for guaranteed turnover in Congress and give challengers a reasonable chance to compete with incumbents.

There are now 1,523 female state legislators, for instance, but only 48 women in the US House of Representatives and seven in the Senate. Only two female candidates beat incumbents in the 1992 general election, for a success ratio of less than 5 percent. These new, younger state and local leaders can themselves help open up the election process. George A. Dean, Southport, Conn.

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