We go through it every four years -- the primaries, the conventions, the elections -- and finally, the inauguration of the President. But there's more to politics than "Hail to the Chief." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, do-it-yourself politics. How ordinary people do the jobs elected officials don't.

SEGMENT 1

Political scientist Charles Euchner tells Steve Paulson that Americans' disillusion with traditional politics has created a new political system based on demands. Euchner is the author of "Extraordinary Politics: How Protest and Dissent Are Changing American Democracy."

SEGMENT 2:

Eileen McDonagh teaches political scienc at Boston's Northeastern University. She tells Judith Strasser that many national policies are enacted only after similar programs have operated successfully at the state level. Also, Paul Soglin, six term Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, tells Judith Strasser that the issues he faces in his office are the same ones that concerned him as a student activist, and explains how local, state and national government are inter-related.

SEGMENT 3:

Environmental designer Rachel Fletcher tells Jim Fleming how she became a grass-roots political organizer when she set out to clean up the banks of the Housatonic River in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

• week of 01/19/97 - hour 1