DEMOCRATS TO UNVEIL `FAMILIES FIRST' AGENDA TO COUNTER GOP EFFORT.

Byline: Associated Press 

Expressing optimism about the fall campaign, Democrats will outline a ``families first'' agenda Sunday, pledging action on a series of pocketbook issues if the party regains control of Congress in November.

The program, to be unveiled simultaneously in five cities, ranges from tax breaks for education to pay equity for women to expanded health insurance for children. Anti-crime legislation is also pledged, according to several sources who described the Democratic blueprint on condition of anonymity.

Congressional Democrats will also embrace their own program of welfare reform. And they will issue a promise to balance the budget - more slowly than Republicans favor - while pledging to protect Medicare, Medicaid, education and the environment. No specifics on those matters are expected.

The program is ``modest and moderate and feasible,'' House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri said recently, underscoring that Democrats are eager to shed the label of big-program liberalism that doomed them to defeat in the 1994 election campaign.

Democrats said the ``families first'' agenda would encompass the themes of security, opportunity and responsibility, and include a number of specific legislative proposals that appear designed to appeal to key voting groups.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota told reporters Friday that the program was designed to permit voters to ``better understand the differences between Republicans and Democrats.''

The Democrats make their announcement at an important juncture in the 1996 political campaign. Most recent public opinion polls give President Clinton double-digit leads over his opponent, former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole. At the same time, Democrats report improving prospects in numerous congressional races.

Republicans point to polls indicating that the GOP generally fares well in hypothetical matchups against Democratic congressional candidates. At the same time, as if to underscore the stakes, Republicans attacked the Democratic initiative this week, even before it was announced, as ``election-year hot air.''

They said it paled in contrast to their own ``Contract With America.'' They also sniped that fewer than a dozen incumbent Democrats were joining in Sunday's program, in contrast to virtually unanimous support among Republicans when the ``Contract With America'' was signed two years ago.

On that, at least, the Democrats are quick to agree. Gephardt has repeatedly said Democrats are attempting something more modest than the GOP agenda. And whereas Republicans unveiled their ``Contract'' in September 1994 in a splashy ceremony on the steps of the Capitol, Democrats are dispatching lawmakers and congressional candidates to Sacramento; Houston; Des Moines, Iowa; Detroit; and Fairfax, Va. Gephardt and Daschle will preside over a 75-minute program linked by satellite.

In crafting their plan, said one Democratic official, Gephardt and senior party leaders want to ``make it clear to people what we're for . . . The purpose is to give Democratic candidates something to run on.''