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Pick a color, any color, along as it isn't red! While finishing President Reagan's proposed '84 budget, administration officials faced a tough decision: What color should the budget book's cover be? The problem ended up on the desk of an assistant to Budget Director David Stockman. After poring over a wide variety of shades and styles, says a high OMB source, the assistant decided, ''I like red.'' Suddenly, visions of the record amounts of red ink predicted by the document sprang into his head. ''I guess red wouldn't be appropriate,'' he sighed.

The final choice? A safe, fiscally responsible dark blue.m