WASHINGTON INSIGHT

SINLESS BREW: Scratch beer from the list of sin taxes being mulled to pay for universal health insurance. The Clinton Administration fears a backlash from “Joe Six-Pack,” the working-class Democrats who have been known to vote Republican. White House aides are mindful that, in last year’s campaign, one of the few effective ads run by then-President George Bush thrashed Democratic nominee Bill Clinton for raising the tax on beer while he was governor of Arkansas. . . . But there’s still sin to tax, with wine and tobacco levies targeted to go up in the Administration’s health care plan. The tax on cigarettes could jump by $1 to $3 a pack.