Republican platform writers agreed today to keep Michael Dukakis' name out of their party document with the hope that after the Nov. 8 election the Democratic nominee ``will fade into oblivion.'' Nebraska Gov. Kay Orr opened the platform hearing by asking the delegates not to refer to Dukakis by name in the document. Orr, the committee chairman, said past GOP platforms avoided direct references to the Democrats' nominee. ``That's a very good idea since obviously after November 1988 Governor Dukakis will fade into oblivion,'' said New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu. ``We don't want anyone to have to refer to an encyclopedia to figure out what we have to say.'' The Democratic platform does not mention George Bush or Ronald Reagan by name. Sen. Bob Kasten of Wisconsin, a co-chairman of the committee, told reporters that none of the subcommittee revisions was ``giving anyone major heartburn.'' Kasten said the panel would seek to finish drafting the platform Thursday, a day ahead of schedule. The Republicans also released what they said was a GOP staff estimate of how much implicit promises in the Democratic platform will wind up costing taxpayers: $43.1 billion in 1989 alone. The full 106-member Republican Platform Committee today began reviewing the document anew line by line, after seven subcommittees spent Tuesday putting their imprint on 158 pages of staff-produced working papers. That draft is largely a distillation of policies from the 1984 GOP platform and stands that Bush has staked out on such issues as child care and education. It includes new planks on AIDS and the homeless, as well as the GOP's hard and fast line against abortion and higher taxes. Orr said the subcommittees were not making major changes, but emphasized, ``Until we're done on Friday, it's not a done deal, It's not over with.'' The subcommittees, taking advice from such Bush campaign emissaries as former Texas Sen. John Tower, resisted most moves to push the platform to the left or right. The defense subcommittee called for ``rapid and certain deployment of SDI as technology permits.'' The original draft, echoing Bush campaign language, had just spoken of deployment ``as soon as possible.'' In the family subcommittee, Lynn Glaze, a Delaware delegate, was rebuffed three times when she sought to soften the anti-abortion language. Her motions were tabled without discussion, as was her call for support of the Equal Rights Amendment. Bunny Chambers, a member of the conservative Eagle Forum from Oklahoma City who moved to table Glaze's amendments, said, ``I felt like we'd discussed enough (in the past). I didn't want to spend all the time on it.'' The family subcommittee also killed a plank on the special needs of ``little persons'' _ dwarfs. Committee members expressed confusion about the term `little persons'' and what the plank was doing in the draft. On AIDS, not addressed in 1984, the draft promises to ``not only marshal our scientific resources against AIDS, but ... protect those who do not have the disease.'' It is silent on the civil rights legislation for AIDS victims recommended by a presidential commission. The family subcommittee did amend the AIDS plank to say victims ``should be encouraged to seek early diagnosis and to remain on the job or in school as long as they are functionally able.'' The defense subcommittee balked at an amendment by its co-chairman, Angela ``Bay'' Buchanan, to declare a goal of U.S. ``space dominance.'' Buchanan, the former U.S. treasurer from Irvine, Calif., said she was satisfied with compromise language that space must be kept free and secure for all nations. Gone from the draft documents was the 1984 GOP declaration that ``we shall keep the peace by keeping our country stronger than any potential adversary.'' On taxes, the draft says, ``Republicans unequivocally reiterate the no-tax pledge we have proudly kept.'' Like the 1984 platform, the draft calls for the appointment of judges ``who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of human life.'' Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. of Connecticut skipped Tuesday's session to return to Washington, but planned to be back today to wage his uphill battle for liberal amendments. The draft documents back a line-item veto, a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and ``a flexible freeze on current government spending.'' They endorse a child-care tax credit for families of modest means. Bush recently proposed a $1,000-per-child credit for families with incomes up to $20,000. The draft speaks of the importance of imparting to children ``the Judeo-Christian values of Western civilization and our ideals of liberty.'' The family subcommittee rejected an amendment to change ``Judeo-Christian'' to ``traditional.'' On abortion, the draft declares ``the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed,'' and calls again for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. It says, ``Republicans deplore the apartheid system of South Africa,'' but warns against economic pressures that harm black workers and entrepreneurs there. The foreign policy panel added a plank declaring that, ``Republicans are strongly committed to obtaining the freedom of all Americans held captive by terrorist elements in the Middle East.''
