Gramm Counters Forbes’ Airwave Attack : Politics: ‘Deceitful’ accusations made by GOP rival prompted Texas senator to set the record straight about his role in tax increase bill, aide says.

In the first direct ad war of the Republican presidential race, Texas Sen. Phil Gramm unveiled a New Hampshire television spot Thursday accusing GOP rival Malcolm S. “Steve” Forbes Jr. of lying about Gramm’s part in the 1990 tax increase bill.

The Forbes ad, which began saturating the airwaves on station WMUR in Manchester this week, accuses Gramm of helping to “engineer a staggering $100-billion tax increase.” The new Gramm commercial labels that charge “deceitful.”

The rapid counter to Forbes’ attack illustrates the growing political impact of the publishing magnate’s wallet on the New Hampshire campaign--as well as Gramm’s concern about his stagnant fortunes in the state.

While the media battle heats up among the GOP candidates, the two-week filing period for New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary on Feb. 20 ends today and, as expected, no major Democratic challengers to President Clinton have surfaced.

The lack of serious primary opposition in New Hampshire has spared Clinton the intraparty turmoil that faced other contemporary Democratic presidents. As a result, Clinton has enjoyed the luxury of focusing on general election themes and raising millions of dollars over the past few months.

In the Republican race, front-runner Bob Dole has largely ignored stinging Forbes ads aimed his way in the New Hampshire market. And senior Dole aides were delighted Thursday to see Gramm and Forbes fighting with each other, figuring that the squabble only helps the Senate majority leader.

Gramm has been stuck at single digits in New Hampshire polls and cannot afford to sink further. Forbes, meanwhile, has improved his standing with his ongoing, largely self-financed, media blitz.

Gramm advisor James C. Courtovich said the main motivation for the campaign’s quick response to the Forbes tax-increase ad is to set the record straight. “This isn’t a debate between Phil Gramm and Steve Forbes; it’s a debate between Steve Forbes and the truth,” he said.

The Forbes ad is “a flat-out lie,” Courtovich said. The average voter will see the Forbes ad six times a week, “and that’s a very heavy buy,” he said. “If Santa Claus went up with an ad like this, this heavy of a buy, we’d respond.”

The speed of the Gramm response “indicates that we’re getting under his skin,” said Gretchen Morgensen, Forbes’ press secretary. “More to the point, it indicates that he has to worry about being called on his record. It’s there to be examined.”

The Forbes ad, which began airing Monday, shows footage of the 1990 federal budget summit. An announcer intones: “Bob Dole dispatches Phil Gramm to negotiate. Gramm helps engineer a staggering $100-billion tax increase. Dole called it ‘a good agreement.’ Gramm says, ‘It will balance the budget in 1994.’ It didn’t.”

While not wholly inaccurate, the ad does not fully explain Gramm’s role in the 1990 budget battle.

Gramm did participate in the budget summit, which produced a tax increase. He supported a plan that would have raised taxes by $134 billion, mostly through gas, alcohol and luxury items.

But that proposal never made it to a Senate vote. Instead, negotiators substituted a plan with fewer entitlement cuts and $137 billion in tax increases. Gramm voted against it; Dole voted for it.

Courtovich argued that by the end of the Forbes ad, “you would think that Bob Dole and Phil Gramm endorsed the 1990 budget summit that cost [then-President] George Bush the election. Only half of that is true.

“New Hampshire voters reject that type of politicking,” Courtovich said. “Steve Forbes has wasted a week of his trust allowance here.”

This week’s airwave tit-for-tat is just a precursor to the flood of claims and counterclaims Granite State voters can expect as their primary draws nearer and the presidential candidates receive an infusion of campaign money from the federal government.

“If you want to avoid a politician in New Hampshire and Iowa in January, you’d better have running shoes,” Courtovich said.

By Thursday, 43 men and women had plunked down the requisite $1,000 fee to take part in the primary. Clinton was joined by 20 other Democrats, including political extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. and Caroline Killeen of Arizona, the self-described “Hemp Lady” who would legalize marijuana if she made it to the White House.

The nine major GOP candidates are joined by 11 more quixotic contenders, including Mississippi evangelist Billy Joe Clegg, who filed for his seventh bid for the Oval Office.