TV Analyst Bill Press Will Seek Democratic Senate Nomination

Political commentator Bill Press announced Tuesday that he will quit his job with KABC-TV in Los Angeles in order to campaign full time for the Democratic nomination in California’s U.S. Senate primary.

Press, 47, said fresh ideas will fuel his campaign against a better-known opponent, Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy. But he was unable to explain how he would implement the first of those ideas--a proposal to reduce defense spending by making drastic cuts in conventional U.S. forces overseas.

McCarthy and Press are both liberals with generally similar views on the environment, poverty, civil rights and other domestic social issues. However, the burden will be on Press, who is making his first bid for elective office, to appeal to voters in a year when public opinion polls are showing that people want proven political leaders representing them.

McCarthy, 57, has been in politics 25 years and, for the time being, has to be regarded as his party’s best hope for unseating Republican Sen. Pete Wilson.

Press said Tuesday he is “proud” to be the underdog and indicated that he will try to use McCarthy’s experience against him, arguing that McCarthy is part of a political establishment that has not offered a viable alternative to the policies of President Reagan or Wilson.

“Leo is an establishment politician. I’m not. Leo is a professional politician. I’m not. Leo is part of the process, part of the system. I am not,” Press said.

Press criticized a recent proposal by McCarthy to freeze federal spending in order to curb the federal deficit as “Reaganomics” and “intellectually bankrupt.”

“That is freezing into place all the wrong spending priorities of Ronald Reagan and (Defense Secretary Caspar) Weinberger. It means if you get a new Democratic President you can’t restore funding for child nutrition, you can’t restore funding for student loan programs, you can’t expand child care or health care. You can’t put any more funding into AIDS research.”

But when he offered his own plan for balancing the budget, Press found himself on thin political ice.

He called for a “drastic” reduction in the $176-billion contribution he said the United States makes to the defense of Europe and Japan. But when asked what he would do with U.S. forces currently there and whether he was really advocating a reduction of U.S. conventional forces, Press faltered.

“Look, the details of a proposal whether soldier X is assigned somewhere else, frankly is not the point. . . . The details of exactly what is to happen to one battalion is to be worked out.”

Campaign Funding

Press admitted he is entering the campaign at a financial disadvantage. While McCarthy is reported to have amassed close to $1 million, Press said he has raised about $200,000 and hopes to have $500,000 by the end of the year.

Press, who once worked for former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., became the only Democrat challenging McCarthy when both Rep. Robert T. Matsui of Sacramento and Secretary of State March Fong Eu decided not to run.