President Clinton has decided that the technology for the National Missile Defense system is not sufficiently mature to proceed with deployment this year and has recommended that tests and development continue for another year or two before a deployment decision was made. While a handful of people are fervent on this issue, polls show that only 1% of Americans regard it as the top election issue. Of course, those same polls also show that nearly a third of Americans believe (incorrectly) that we already have a missile defense system.--Stephen V Cole