LUCKY BOB DOLE. Since President Clinton has just published a campaign book, Between Hope nd History, Dole’s new book on his plan to cut taxes is sure to get prominent display in bookstores, right next to Clinton’s. The biggest problems for Dole advisers were deciding whether to publish the book as a paperback or a hardcover and what to name it. Hardcover won, with a first printing from HarperCollins of 250,000 copies. Book titles came and went. Tax Cut was considered and rejected. So was The 15% Tax Cut. Then Restoring the American Dream, a popular slogan in speeches at the Republican convention, was chosen, only to be tossed aside later as unoriginal. The tentative title: Trusting the People.

The Dole camp hadn’t counted on an assist from Clinton. When Dole aides began work on Trusting the People in late July, they didn’t know Clinton was coming out with his own book. But the battle of the books fits perfectly with the Dole strategy of trapping Clinton on the big issue of the campaign, cutting taxes. The strategy is simple: Propose a large tax cut for individuals, then hope Clinton not only opposes the cut but engages the issue aggressively. The president and his aides have gone along, bashing Dole daily on taxes. This has kept the tax issue as the centerpiece of the campaign. The Clinton book, by the way, also trashes the Dole tax cut.