It certainly isn’t news that the presidential campaign hasn’t focused on any substantive issues.

Clinton is keeping his side as calm as possible, riding out the remaining weeks of the race with a big lead in the polls.

Why would he bring up anything tough or controversial?

Dole is attempting to make an issue of Clinton’s character, but it isn’t working.

No one really wants to hear about it. It’s no secret that he’s a bit shady, but what politician isn’t?

And most voters really don’t care as long as he’s doing a competent job and their bank statements look solid.

And Perot is being, well, Perot.

But there is one issue that Dole has touched, and it has made him look even more out-of-touch with reality.

He’s been promising a 15 percent income tax cut, and he wants to increase military spending.

Increase the Pentagon budget after cutting tax revenue? Is he serious?

Unfortunately, he is, and it is a cheap ploy to gain the support of three groups:

1. People who mistakenly believe that a bigger defense budget equals a more effective military: far right-wing voters.

2. Defense contractors who can shove money into his campaign war chest.

3. Legislators with defense-related concerns in their districts or states.

Dole apparently has missed the fact that Reagan tried this in the early 1980s, believing that a cut in income taxes would be balanced out by increased revenue from other tax sources.

His administration then jacked up the defense budget to stratospheric levels, reinstating programs cut by the Carter administration such as the B-1 strategic bomber and the MX intercontinental ballistic missile.

The plan didn’t work.

The result of this cut-and-spend move was a monstrous budget deficit, one which still affects the U.S.

We were already spending ourselves into a hole before Reagan was elected, but when his people took over they stopped digging with a shovel and brought out the backhoe.

Dole apparently hasn’t read his recent history.

But haven’t you always had the idea that history stopped for Bob somewhere around 1958, when the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn?

A cheap shot. Back to the topic at hand.

The defense budget has hovered around $290 billion per year during this decade. That is more than enough raw cash to provide a solid defense for this country and its interests and allies in the post-Cold War environment.

In fact, in the past few years, the Pentagon has asked for less money than Congress has allocated for defense.

And, the Department of Defense and the military services have done a decent job of cutting away their dead weight and consolidating their resources.

For example, the Navy and Air Force have combined their strategic nuclear commands into Strategic Command, replacing the Navy’s command and control systems and the Air Force’s Strategic Air Command.

Also, procurement and development programs have been streamlined so that there isn’t as much duplication and waste. The Joint Strike Fighter program will provide a replacement for most fighter aircraft in both the Navy and Air Force.

There is still much work to be done in shrinking and reconfiguring the military, but the Pentagon is off to a good start.

So why is Congress still trying to fund defense to a level that even the Pentagon does not want? And why does Dole want to be a party to this?

Simply put: It is because of jobs. Defense contractors are still major employers in this country. Look at the example of the V-22 Osprey, a program the Pentagon has all but given up on but which Congress continues to fund.

Subsystems for the Osprey are built in a majority of states.

If a member of Congress votes to kill funding for the V-22, he or she will be vilified by an opponent in the next election for taking away jobs at home — and for being soft on national defense.

And both of those factors are candidate-killers in this country.

No jobs?

No votes.

Soft on defense?

No votes.

No doubt Dole is thinking the same thing. It shows how desperate he is to get elected, that he will abandon common sense and intelligence on the issue of defense spending in order to pick up some cheap support.

And apparently, it isn’t working. Check the polls, Bob. Too bad it’s too late to change your strategy.

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Kevin Kirby is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Louisville. He has a B.A. in political science from the University of Wyoming.