EDITORIAL : GRANDSTANDING; CONGRESS GRABS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR ELECTION-YEAR POSTURING.

DRUNKEN driving and the needless deaths and suffering it causes ought to be condemned.

It's good for the state to have a tough .08 percent blood-alcohol limit as the threshold for drunken-driving charges.

California and 14 other states impose that limit, while the other 35 states have a .10 percent rule.

Obviously, states must decide which figure is right for them. Either way, a state is in good company.

So it should be obvious that Congress is engaged in shameless political grandstanding by threatening to withhold highway construction funds to any state that doesn't adopt the .08 rule.

Why is Congress making it a federal case? Because this is an election year.

Talking tough on drunk driving is a cheap - in every sense of the word - way for politicians to posture for re-election.

Keep in mind, we're not speaking out of unhappiness with California's .08 law. We believe it's a good policy and states that haven't switched to it should consider doing so.

But that's for states to decide - not the feds.

By law, Congress has no authority to write state drunken-driving statutes. That's why senators and representatives are resorting to the backhanded ploy of taking away money in a new transportation bill.

Big Government tramples over the states like this all the time. It's a favorite pastime.

But it's mostly talk, talk, talk - not real help which states need.

Anti-drunken driving groups estimate that more than 17,000 deaths on U.S. highways in 1996 resulted from alcohol. They say lowering the DUI limit could save more than 500 lives a year nationwide.

That's good, but it leaves another 16,500 alcohol-related traffic deaths each year. Congress could accomplish more by helping local governments cut that tragic toll instead of taking away revenues.

The real problem is drivers who get behind the wheel with blood-alcohol levels of .10 or more and who will continue regardless of politicians. Those dangerous drivers put others at risk, despite their multiple DUI convictions and even if their licenses are suspended or revoked.

That's the scope of the problem. But instead of helping, politicians pontificate and bluster.

What's more, it's hypocrisy. The federal government's own house isn't in order.

According to a new report by the U.S. Transportation Department's inspector general, the federal government - which imposes bridge safety requirements on states - hasn't inspected many of its own bridges on time and keeps records so shoddy that safety cannot be assured.

The inspector general said a quarter of the federal bridges on record had not been inspected within the two-year period required by law.

And even when bridge inspections were conducted, there were glaring problems.

Where does the buck stop for federal bridge safety? In Washington, D.C.

But don't expect senators and members of Congress to mention lax bridge inspections in re-election advertisements next to their gassy posturing about drunk driving.