GOP Will Urge Deukmejian to Seek Third Term, Aide Says

SACRAMENTO — Steven A. Merksamer, who today officially gives up one of the most powerful jobs in Sacramento--chief of staff to the governor--predicted Thursday that Gov. George Deukmejian will come under increasing pressure from Republican leaders to run for a rare third term in 1990.

A close adviser to Deukmejian for eight years, Merksamer said in a breakfast interview with The Times’ Sacramento bureau that a third-term candidacy is made more likely by the GOP’s failure in recent years to develop potentially strong candidates for statewide office. And he conceded that Deukmejian’s decision during his first term to shun the role of political kingmaker has contributed to the dearth of talented GOP candidates.

But Merksamer, one of Deukmejian’s biggest boosters, contended that the governor’s own political future is boundless--”his future is what he wants it to be”--and he could wind up running not only for a third term, but for President in 1992.

Merksamer, 39, is quitting the governor’s office to enter private law practice. He also will help set up and lead a new Deukmejian political organization called Citizens for Common Sense, patterned after a political group Ronald Reagan established a decade ago when he began running for President.

Only one California governor has ever won a third term--Republican Earl Warren in 1950.

Referring to Deukmejian, Merksamer said: “He’s going to get a great deal of pressure to run for a third term.”