We the people of the Democratic Party should decide who will represent us in the November election. Our being told, over a year before the primary, who the Democratic candidate will be is an abridgement of our rights reminiscent of the bad old days of Tammany Hall or even worse, the Soviet Union. Hillary Clinton will have to earn the Democratic nomination; we're not going to just hand it to her.

It is entirely within my rights as a citizen of New York State to compete for this open Senate seat. The process is not closed off as some would have us believe. Or at least that's how I interpret the Constitution. I believe it's called Democracy.

I have already registered with the Federal Election Commission for the right to appear on the primary ballot. I will need to collect 15,000 signatures from across New York State, including at least 100 from 16 of the State's 31 Congressional districts, or receive 25 percent of the delegates' vote at New York's Democratic convention next spring.

My campaign motto is "Say No To Hatred," a variation on Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" anti-drug slogan. I want to be a US Senator so I can make the voice of the people heard in the halls of Congress, especially as it relates to my primary causes, health and safety. The House of Representatives already took a step in the right direction by recently passing the Democratic version of the Patients' Bill of Rights. We need to work on saving Medicare, achieving universal health care, and gun control.

I will address the following health and safety issues: Medicare, home care, Medicaid, breast cancer, AIDS, crime, domestic violence, elder and child abuse, gun control, police brutality, pollution and the environment, the uninsured, HMOs, homelessness, drunk driving, alcohol and drug abuse, and smoking.

I'm against the clemency granted to the FALN activists; I support freeing Jonathan Pollard; I favor an increase in the minimum wage; and I will be a maverick on behalf of Israel.

I am 38, married, have three children and live in Manhattan. I am a graduate of Harvard Medical School and am attending physician on the staff of Lenox Hill and Beth Israel North Hospitals, specializing in surgery of the knee, hand, and shoulder. My wife, Lynne, is also a physician and specializes in radiology at Bellevue Hospital.

Dr. Mark Stephen McMahon