John Babiarz was not invited to participate in a forum of gubernatorial candidates in Berlin this week. He showed up anyway, saying as he approached the stage on which Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, Gordon Humphrey and Sen. Mary Brown were already present, There is a fourth candidate for governor. The three -- a Democrat, a Republican and an independent -- watched quietly as Babiarz was escorted away by a local police officer and a state trooper.

Babiarz is finding it increasingly difficult to find a forum for his minimalist view of government. Having seen him in an earlier debate, we have to conclude the state's Libertarians have missed the boat in their choice of someone to carry their message. While Babiarz is probably a very nice person, he sometimes comes across as being something less than the sharpest knife in the drawer. While observing him in the debate sponsored by WNDS earlier this month, we began to wonder if the Libertarian candidate was of this world.

OK! If not Babiarz, why Mary Brown?

The most recent polling done by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center shows Babiarz with 1 percent of the people likely to vote in the Nov. 7 general election. But Sen. Brown's situation isn't much different. At 6 percent, the Chichester Republican -- running for governor as an independent -- is almost as far behind Gov. Shaheen and former U.S. Sen. Humphrey as is Babiarz.

The answer is simple. Despite independent status and the huge disadvantage it imposes on her, Brown acts and talks like an establishment politician. While her message favoring a state income tax differs greatly with Humphrey's stand on no new taxes and Shaheen's mystery plan, Brown is capable of rational discussion of the issues -- a quality that sometimes seems lost with John Babiarz.

And, of course, there is the interesting role Brown might play in a close election -- the movement of some income tax supporters to Brown in protest against Shaheen's unwillingness to support that form of broad-based taxation during the recent session of the Legislature. These are the diehards who see the governor's withdrawal from the pledge as too little, too late.

If Shaheen and Humphrey ride an election night seesaw, Brown's 6 percent or anything like it can toss the election to Humphrey.

Six percent makes Brown a player. One percent makes Babiarz a spectator.

If we fail to act realistically, well ' .

John Babiarz probably knew he was the longest of long shots when he decided to run for governor of New Hampshire. What probably never entered his mind was that he wouldn't even be allowed to play.