WASHINGTON INSIGHT

BALANCE: House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are irked about a new Republican ad. But not for the usual reasons. They say it plagiarizes a Democratic attack on House Republican Whip Newt Gingrich of Georgia. In that ad, a child’s voice criticizes Gingrich for overdrawing his House bank account 22 times. “Learning to count isn’t easy,” says the announcer, who adds that Gingrich is 48 “and he still hasn’t learned to count.” Then the ad says: “Maybe Newt did learn how to count” but “forgot something else kids learn: to tell the truth.” . . . A virtually identical Republican ad is about to be aired against Gephardt, who had 28 overdrafts. It also features a child’s voice and the line “maybe Dick did learn to count and just forgot something else kids learn: to tell the truth.”