WELFARE'S OUTSIDER

In his first major swipe at Bob Dole, Pete Wilson today declared the GOP frontrunner soft on welfare reform. "The compromises being cut in the Senate raise serious doubts as to whether the Senate Republican leader really understands the mandate the voters gave us last November to make dramatic change," Wilson told the Heritage Foundation in Washington. Los Angeles bureau chief Jordan Bonfante says it's the opening gambit in the California governor's plan to "portray himself as taking action as governor on these very issues that Dole is just talking about and compromising on in the Senate. Wilson wants to stake out the position of the action taker, rather than someone who just sits in Washington and can't get anything accomplished."