PLAYLIST 8071 With the deadline for a strike looming, one of the key questions hanging over negotiators for Northwest, the pilots union and communities the airline serves is whether President Clinton will put a strike on hold. The Bloomberg news service website reports a White House source says the president is not likely to order pilots back to work. A year and a half ago, Mr. Clinton broke with 3 decades of presidential practice and DID order American Airlines pilots back to work minutes after they went on strike. Experts disagree on whether the president will intervene in a Northwest strike. As Bill Catlin reports, some observers say the decision will be based as much on politics as economics.