THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, October 15, 1996             TAG: 9610150015
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A16  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                            LENGTH:   40 lines

VOTERS NEED AN OBJECTIVE LOOK AT BUDGET PLANS WHAT'S THE SCORE?

When Republicans in Congress doubted a Clinton administration balanced budget plan would actually add up, they insisted that it be analyzed - or scored - by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Now the shoe is on the other foot.

The centerpiece of the Dole-Kemp campaign is a plan that purports to reach a balanced budget while cutting taxes by $548 billion, protecting entitlements and increasing defense spending. The Clinton administration claims this is impossible and has called for CBO scoring.

Sunday, Jack Kemp said he'd be willing to submit the plan to CBO ``right now. No problem.'' But the Dole campaign contradicted Kemp. ``I'm confident that come next January, when Bob Dole submits his first budget to CBO, we'll find it balances quite nicely,'' said Dole spokesman Nelson Warfield.

This is typical campaign tit for tat, but Republicans were right to demand that the Clinton plan be scrutinized by the generally reliably, non-partisan bean counters at CBO. And the Democrats are right to insist on the same scrutiny for the Dole plan.

For too many years, candidates have run on tax breaks, spending plans and balanced budgets that turn out to be fantasies or shell games. Voters and taxpayers deserve straight talk not campaign rhetoric when huge issues are at stake.

After all, this discussion is about retirement money and health care for seniors, the tax burden borne by working families, the growth of the economy and the solvency of the country. Hard choices are going to have to be made in the next four years, but each party has a dismal record of promising big benefits, clamming up about the pain involved and relying on optimistic forecasts and dubious accounting.

Given the tendency of candidates to peddle economic snake oil in lieu of proven medicine, voters need some objective source like the CBO to rely on. When candidates shy from such analysis, voters should put their hands on their wallets. by CNB