The first serious rumble in the gubernatorial campaign did little to alter the prospects of the two major party candidates, but it left independent candidate Andrew Adam grumbling and left dangling an important policy question for television stations.

Adam, a political unknown from Augusta, was denied equal billing with Gov. John McKernan and Rep. Joseph Brennan in the WCSH-TV production. The television station weeks ago announced that the debate card would feature only the heavyweights. As consolation, he was offered, and he accepted a half-hour of free air to shadowbox.

Although Adam’s campaign is not catching fire and his agenda remains inscrutable — he is against big government, distrusts the proliferation of public-private alliances and has contempt for the old-boy network on which so much of politics, government and business is built — the fact that his candidacy exists at all poses serious questions that television stations will have to resolve before 1992.

In future candidate debates and election coverage, how should television treat bona fide candidates who are not members of the two major parties? Should it be up to station managers to decide in August which candidates are to be the legitimate contenders in November? Is a half an hour, or even a whole evening of free time equal in impact to the exposure an independent receives when he or she shares the stage with the “real” candidates?

Although it is easy to sympathize with the station in its dilemma — its desire to be fair, but its interest in presenting an undiluted package to the viewers — TV simply did not have a convincing explanation for its decision to segregate Adam. In fact, the reasoning presented to the public before the Tuesday night debate only made matters worse. The station said it excluded Adam because he got into the race later than the other two candidates, and he was running a too-lean, too-low-key operation. Two strikes, and he’s out.

Andrew Adam may have been a relatively easy call for WCSH, but in dismissing him so casually, the station failed to help itself by developing a policy that will work in more difficult circumstances.

The public should be concerned about what happened to this independent candidate, not because one show will make or break this person’s candidacy, but because it means that four years from now, a station manager or network executive might be able to decide whether the next Jim Longley is ready for prime time.

No one should have that much power.