WASHINGTON INSIGHT

BACK TO SCHOOLS: President Bush, seeking to counter Democrats’ charges that he doesn’t care about domestic affairs, is about to launch a concerted campaign to reclaim the initiative on education.

Bush plans to deliver on Tuesday a major speech reiterating his commitment to quality education. Immediately after that, some half a dozen members of his Cabinet will carry the theme to speaking engagements in Maryland and Nebraska.

Aides say the effort reflects the view of White House political strategists that education is one of Bush’s strong suits on the domestic front, and that the President can keep it so. It also reflects a growing closeness between Bush and his new education secretary, former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander. It was Alexander who suggested the post-Labor Day speeches.

One potential risk: inadvertently bad timing. The renewed emphasis on schools comes just days after a College Board report that Scholastic Aptitude Test scores have declined nationwide since Bush’s earlier stress on improving education.

DIRECT HIT? The recent upheavals in the Soviet Union are expected to have major influence on congressional actions regarding the Pentagon’s hardware programs.

Key lawmakers say the disintegration of the Soviet Union could give the “Star Wars” antimissile program a boost because of fear that rogue military officials could seize control of nuclear warheads in one of the breakaway republics and engage in limited nuclear blackmail. The Senate already has approved a plan to focus “Star Wars” on defending against unauthorized or accidental missile launchings.

At the same time, the Soviet breakup could damage the already slim prospects of the B-2 Stealth bomber, perhaps push House and Senate negotiators to limit production to 15 planes. The B-2 is designed primarily for retaliation after a massive nuclear attack from the Soviets. With the central Soviet government deteriorating rapidly, some lawmakers see that danger--and the need for a new bomber--as evaporating.

AFTER THE COUP: Brent Scowcroft, President Bush’s top adviser on national security, emerges a winner in White House circles since the failure of the recent coup in the Soviet Union.

Bush lieutenants say that the dour, plain-spoken former Air Force general has been at the President’s side throughout the Soviet crisis, and that his was the principal voice urging caution on recognizing the independence of the Baltic states. Scowcroft’s advice apparently overrode that of Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, who, they say, pressed the President to seize the moment and establish diplomatic relations.

OPENING FOR GATES? The White House, worried about the confirmation of Scowcroft’s deputy, Robert M. Gates, to be director of central intelligence, is beginning a full-court press to push his appointment through Congress.

Chief of Staff John H. Sununu has named his deputy, Andrew H. Card Jr., to spearhead the effort. Gates backers contend that the Soviet crisis has boosted his chance of winning Senate approval because it belies earlier charges that he “slanted” intelligence in the late 1980s by predicting that Soviet right-wingers were likely to stage a coup. “He’s now clearly right,” one Gates-watcher said.

While strategists don’t expect Congress to reject the Gates nomination, they are fearful that continuing questions about Gates’ activities could cause damaging delays.