DEMOCRATS AIM PROPAGANDA AT TSONGAS

For nearly two weeks Capitol Hill Democrats have been waging a subtle propaganda war against, of all people, Paul Tsongas, Democratic candidate for president. Their battle plan: constantly repeat the idea that he is "unelectable," thus encouraging Democrats in the New Hampshire and soon-to-follow "Super Tuesday" primaries to vote for someone else. Or, if that doesn't work, at least to pave the way for a "draft-anybody-else" Democratic convention this summer.

Well, the first part of their strategy fell flat. Tsongas not only won Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, he won it big. And if the Washington leadership would stop repeating that "he doesn't have legs" after New Hampshire, Tsongas, might, in fact, develop them.

Unfortunately for the senator who battled back from cancer, at this point it looks like his party's leaders really don't want him to succeed.

First of all, Capitol Hill Democrats de facto party leaders in this leaderless party underestimate the American people. They honestly believe that we you, me and our neighbors are incapable of supporting a candidate who speaks in a halting style, lacks a charismatic timbre and doesn't look like a movie star. More offensive yet, they believe we undecided Americans especially those of us in the South and Midwest can't support an ethnic American.

I don't mean to imply that some people, sadly, won't stumble over these characteristics. But then, when did George Bush's style, looks and background become the main reasons he was elected President in 1988?

The real problem of the Beltway Democrats is that they continue to suffer from Reagan-envy, the peculiar malady that prevails in much of Washington, where the sufferer feverishly believes still that the only reason Ronald Reagan was elected President twice is because he hoodwinked a dumb public with his twinkling eyes and actor's style.

By succumbing to this malady, not only do Democratic leaders fail to realize George Bush's greatest weakness that as president he has betrayed the Reagan economic legacy instead of enhancing it but they deny the candidate who has until now drawn the greatest response from the people because of his style, not in spite of it.

Indeed, Paul Tsongas might not be a twinkling star, but he has a genuineness and honesty about him that is easy to respect.

Why these qualities aren't stylish enough for Washington Democrats beats me. Instead, they reason that since Michael Dukakis was a less-than-charismatic, Massachusetts Greek, Tsongas is doomed to the same fate. This line of thinking fails to realize that Dukakis lost because, among other things, he tried to run a stealth campaign on whether he was a liberal or not.

Of course, the American people knew Dukakis was a liberal. So, in the end, he came across as less-than-honest as well as less-than-charismatic. Throw these together with his answer to the question about what he would do if his wife were raped, and he also came across as out-of-touch. Paul Tsongas is not Michael Dukakis.

The second and more significant reason Capitol Hill Democrats don't believe Paul Tsongas is electable is because they don't really want him as president. They themselves wouldn't vote for him. Why? Because Tsongas' pro-business economic positions threaten their source of power.

In denouncing the middle class tax cut as a mere "pandering," and stressing, instead, the importance of a capital gains tax cut, Tsongas destroys the myth of American class warfare, which Washington fixtures like Dick Gephardt and George Mitchell have been propagating for years.

These Gephardt-Mitchell types don't like this challenge to their power base. They want to control constituents through entitlements and social engineering (translation: reslicing the economic pie into a jumble of favors and paybacks), while Tsongas promises empowerment by baking a bigger pie, so that all can find reward.

Of course, if he were to do this, Tsongas would be no better than Ronald Reagan to some Democrats. And worse, these same Democrats might be asked to toe their president's line, which would make it harder for them to stand in the way of necessary spending cuts. Not to mention President Tsongas' rational plans for nuclear energy and national defense.

This is why Tsongas is "unelectable." Indeed, for Washington Democrats, it's not Jerry Brown who threatens the system (he truly is unelectable). It's pro-business Tsongas.

So far, their strategy has failed. Even with all the subtle propaganda, Tsongas won New Hampshire. Now we'll just have to watch for a while. It's still early after all.