Fear of Cranston, Unrest Clouding GOP Convention

There is an uneasiness gnawing at California Republicans these days and it is obvious at their semiannual convention here this weekend.

Alan Cranston, the Democratic senator the Republicans would like to beat in 1986, doesn’t look so weak anymore. At the same time, no one is breaking out of the huge field of 10 Republicans who are seeking Cranston’s job.

Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, who will seek a second term next year, tried to enliven his support at the convention Saturday after being embarrassed by a recent statewide poll showing him behind Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

Even the state party apparatus is in disarray. The party had been expected to capitalize on President Reagan’s landslide victory in 1984, but it is behind in fund raising and is hampered by the focus of its chairman, Mike Antonovich, on his own desire to run for the U.S. Senate, rather than on party business.

The main “dog and pony show” at this convention concerns the U.S. Senate race. At this point there are so many candidates seeking the Republican Senate nomination that the huge and colorful banners they draped across their balconies made the hotel tower look like a stadium set up for Monday night football.

There is one difference, however. When the TV cameras pan Monday night football fans and their banners, there is a lot of excitement.

Conservative analyst Kevin Phillips recently predicted that 1986 could be a Democratic year in Senate races because of the “six-year itch”--that is, restlessness among the voters in the sixth year of a Republican presidency.

Such thoughts are comforting to Cranston, who was thought to be vulnerable because his long-shot run for the Presidency last year made him look somewhat silly and drew attention to his liberal voting record. But even Republicans agree that since then Cranston has rebounded.

“Cranston has repaired some of the damage,” said Republican Sen. Pete Wilson, who added that he still thinks Cranston is “vulnerable as never before.’

That was also the assessment of Arthur Finkelstein, New York pollster and strategist for state Sen. Ed Davis of Valencia.

“That’s why it is incumbent on whoever wins the Republican nomination to open up the attack again on Cranston as a liberal,” Finkelstein said.

Statewide polls show Davis with a slight lead over the other Republicans seeking Cranston’s job. That lead is based in part on the name recognition Davis gained as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1970s.

The other Republicans spent their time trying to convince party activists and the press that the Davis advantage was only temporary.

The two Northern Californians in the Senate race, Assemblyman Robert W. Naylor of Menlo Park and Rep. Ed Zschau of Los Altos, came through as the buttoned-down, issue-oriented, “high-tech” candidates.

Naylor talked impressively about budget and trade issues. Zschau held up a plastic card that members of the House must punch in before they vote and said that he had used this reluctantly to spend taxpayer money: “This is the American distress card--I use it and you pay the bills.”

Fiedler Cites Record

Rep. Bobbi Fiedler of Northridge said she has a track record of beating “liberals like Cranston,” referring to the candidates she defeated for Los Angeles Board of Education and Congress seats.

Two other members of Congress considering the Republican Senate race are Dan Lungren of Long Beach and William Dannemeyer of Fullerton. Lungren believes crime will be a major issue in the Senate race and points to his pivotal role in reforming the federal criminal code. Dannemeyer focused on one issue: the danger of AIDS.

Another possible Senate candidate, Los Angeles radio and TV commentator Bruce Herschensohn, was besieged by fans of his conservative views. His task is to convert that enthusiasm into political support. Economist Arthur Laffer often generates the same kind of enthusiasm with his many speeches on taxes and spending--and faces the same task as Herschensohn.

Beating the Drum

For Deukmejian, a show of enthusiasm appeared to be his main objective at the convention. Surprisingly, the latest round of public and private polls this year showed the low-key governor trailing Bradley despite three years during which the governor’s team felt it was doing everything right.

Now, with Bradley recasting his image as a more energetic politician, Deukmejian brought out a brass band, thousands of balloons and an arena full of placards to stir up the GOP activists. There was even an improbable sign proclaiming, “Punkers for Duke,” although there were certainly no punk rockers at this convention.

“The Democrats have already embarked on a strategy of recycled candidates and policies, tired slogans and special-interest politics,” Deukmejian said in obvious reference to his 1982 opponent, Bradley.

“It didn’t work for Walter Mondale in 1984 and it’s not going to work here in California in 1986,” he added.

The one subject that Republicans can be counted on to work up enthusiasm for is the defeat of liberal state Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, who is on the ballot next November.

But, interestingly, there was little “Bird bashing” at this convention, a clear indication that top Republican strategists are concerned about creating a backlash of sympathy for Bird.