By Janice Castro

JUST MAKING A FEW REPAIRS

Jim Baker's return to the president's side has been described to key Republicans as the "cold war pivot." Having teamed up with Bush to kiss the communist threat goodbye, the honchos were told, Baker will now act as a sort of deputy President, managing the campaign, then leading a sweeping domestic agenda during a second Bush term. But the truth is that Baker is only making an emergency house call as Mr. Fix-It. If Bush wins re-election, Baker has told friends that he will help tool up a domestic strategy and hire the right folks to run it. then he'll scoot right back to State. Says an aide: "A big part of it is putting the right crew in place, which we definitely don't have right now."

WAS THIS STUFF ON CNN?

If U.S. forces attack the Serbs, the Americans will try to minimize casualties by using top-secret electronic and chemical weapons tested during the Gulf War. Cruise missiles generating devastating electromagnetic fields will knock out power plants and transmission towers as they fly over them, while destroying all data stored in tapes and disks at the targets. Other missiles will release showers of carbon-fiber dust to short out electrical installations. A CIA chemical, sprayed on roads or airfields, will rot tires. And if operatives can get close enough, a new microbe, dropped into fuel tanks of jets, tanks and trucks, will be brought into play to turn the fuel into useless jelly.

THE ESPIONAGE GOES ON

Viktor Oshchenko, a diplomat in the Russian Embassy in Paris, was a British double agent for years. Last month Moscow asked him to come home. Fearing the worst, he defected to London. MI-6 is now debriefing him at a safe house. He must know plenty: Moscow has since recalled at least a dozen of his fellow spies from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. Oshchenko specialized in stealing science and technology secrets. Says a senior British diplomat: "The Russians' need for everything is more desperate than ever because of the country's abysmal shape."

FOX IN THE PEACOCK COOP

When Barry Diller quit last fall as chairman of Fox, where he ran the film studio as well as the television network, he said he wanted to own something. Something sizable. Apparently he has been trying to buy the NBC television network from GE. The deal fizzled this summer, but Diller has told friends that "a window of opportunity" remains for the revised proposal he is preparing.

SAME TO YOU

President Bush was unfazed last week when a gay activist who had sneaked into the press section confronted him during a rally in the Astrodome. As the demonstrator shouted, "What about AIDS?" and waved an unrolled condom at the Commander in Chief, Bush muttered, "Oh, look! New press credentials!"

SCORECARD

Every party has its moments. Here are the high points of the Democratic and Republican conventions:

-- BEST SPEECHES

D Barbara Jordan topped Kennedy and Cuomo.

R Barbara Bush's family reunion and "Gampy's" casual arrival at the end of it.

-- SPECIAL EFFECTS

D Clinton's "spontaneous" entrance into the darkened hall, anointed by a beam of light straight out of Close Encounters.

R The balloon blizzard at the finale and Bush's batting them around like a schoolboy.

-- FEATURED GUESTS

D Among the women on the podium at Madison Square Garden were several Republicans.

R The G.O.P. sported two beloved former Presidents and a gaggle of Olympic heroes.

-- SCENE STEALER

D Perot suddenly announced that he was dropping out.

R Perot suddenly announced that he might run after all.