On the surface, the debate on the Senate floor was over the troubled nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. as Surgeon General.

To the Editor: "The Tainted Foster Nomination" (editorial, Feb. 10) further skews the distorted debate over the nomination of Dr. Henry Foster Jr. to be Surgeon General.

Foster Nomination: Vote to cut off debate and vote on the nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. as Surgeon General.

He stood fast behind his nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. to be Surgeon General.

For the ever-expanding field of candidates who would be President, the nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. to be Surgeon General has become one of the first political footballs.

The nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. to be Surgeon General died in the Senate today when Democrats failed for a second and final time to end a Republican filibuster.

Senator Bob Dole made the right call in agreeing to bring the nomination of Dr. Henry Foster Jr. as surgeon general to the floor for debate in the Senate today.

The controversy swirling around the nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. as Surgeon General should not be a surprise to anyone who knows how drastically the 125-year-old job has changed in recent years.

At Mr. Dole's urging, the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee postponed for a second day a vote on the nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. to be Surgeon General.

But even potential losses cut both ways, as the nomination of Dr. Henry W. Foster Jr. as Surgeon General shows.