FEDERAL TAX CUTS STILL A TOP PRIORITY

Meanwhile, on the federal level, congressional Republicans and challengers are acting stressing their commitment to tax cuts even though they couldn't deliver them this year. A tiny, Republican-backed tax cut of $80 billion passed the House but died in the Senate as time ran out this fall. President Clinton would have vetoed it anyway. Democrats are responding with their time-tested demagoguery on Social Security, alleging that Republicans want to throw grandma out in the snow, or something.

For his part, House Budget Committee chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, says he will propose a 10 percent across-the-board cut in income-tax rates over 10 years in the new Congress. Good for him.

The national economy is weakening in the face of Asian troubles and the collapse of both farm prices and some export markets. Real, meaningful tax relief at the federal level is just what we need, as long as the current situation persists, with taxes near the highest ever in peacetime, and federal revenues gushing in at wartime levels.

Democrats say we face a choice between cutting taxes and repairing Social Security. With projected 10-year revenue surpluses of $1.6 trillion, though, they may be offering a false dilemma. It is up to Republicans not only to show us a third way -- using that surplus to fix Social Security and still produce tax cuts -- but to fight for them, now and next year.