Wilson Kicks Off Race; Fights ‘Jinx,’ Low Recognition

Who is Pete Wilson?

Hitting the 1988 campaign trail early, California’s quieter senator began answering that question Sunday, highlighting a 5-year record of cautious conservatism that could make him a hard man to beat, if only more people would pay attention to him.

The 54-year-old Republican began his seven-city campaign swing through the state Sunday with a call for “compassionate conservatism.” Wilson made the kind of bows to the right and to the left--to business, agriculture, law and order and the environment--that have typified his years in office.

“Pete matches California. He’s on the cutting edge of what California wants,” said state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), a former Los Angeles police chief who introduced Wilson at a reception in Burbank.

Opposed Rose Bird

Davis reminded the 100 people in the back-yard audience that Wilson, unlike his leading Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, opposed the reelection of former California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and that Wilson has long been an advocate of the death penalty. Davis pointed out that McCarthy is a relatively recent convert to the pro-death penalty position.

Wilson’s campaign trip began at a San Diego reception in a back yard overlooking a lush canyon that Wilson helped save from development when he was a member of the state Legislature 20 years ago.

Swept into national office in the midst of the Reagan revolution, Wilson remains a proponent of a strong national defense and limited domestic spending. But his choice of the canyon overlook as the site of his campaign kickoff makes it clear how important local issues relating to growth and the environment are likely to be in his 1988 race for reelection.

“Our children will quite rightly hold us accountable for our stewardship of their . . . air and water and land, their coastline, their mountain and desert wilderness and recreational areas,” Wilson said. “They will hold us accountable for the hours they are likely to spend in quiet desperation on gridlocked freeways.”

Wilson does not face a Republican opponent in the June primary, but he is starting early, anyway, a sign that he expects a tough fight and that the low-keyed senator knows he has not made himself the center of attention during the last five years.

Wilson is also fighting history in the form of the one-term “jinx” that befell the five senators who preceded him.

“The jinx is over,” Wilson said gamely to his supporters’ chants of “Re-Pete, Re-Pete.”

Public opinion polls this last year suggest that he has his work cut out for him. The polls show that nearly one-third of his constituents do not know him well enough to have an opinion about him and that, almost a year before the election, he leads McCarthy by less than 10 points.

Republican consultant Stuart K. Spencer, who advises Wilson, predicted last summer that the senator could be in for a close race and that his Democratic opponent would move quickly to exploit Wilson’s comparative anonymity.

That has happened. A week ago, McCarthy began airing a television commercial that seeks to portray Wilson as a man more interested in raising campaign funds than in taking a stand on important issues.

The commercial is the work of Democratic consultants Robert Shrum and David Doak, who are known for their ability to sow doubts about candidates who lack clearly defined images.

Record Challenged

The McCarthy campaign has also begun to challenge Wilson’s record on the environment. They released an environmental score card prepared by the U.S. League of Conservation Voters that gave Wilson a mediocre 37% rating on 30 votes since 1982 on issues important to the League. According to McCarthy aides, the score is among the four lowest of 27 senators running for reelection.

Wilson responded that numerous commendations that he has received from the Audubon Society and other national conservation groups attest to an overall positive record on environmental issues.

Wilson has worked quickly to sharpen his image in response to the early attacks by McCarthy. He has struck back with a series of televised mini-portraits depicting himself as a public-spirited official too busy saving the taxpayers’ money to worry about self-promotion.

One ad, showing Wilson posing beside a victim of Alzheimer’s disease, says he donated his Senate pay raise to the fight on AIDS and other ailments. A second ad proclaims him to be a “whistle blower” against wasteful defense spending who has also helped create 600,000 jobs in defense-related industries in California. The third ad praises Wilson’s responsiveness to California communities hit by natural disasters.

Defense, Economic Issues

One challenge Wilson may face is honing a clear message from a bifurcated record that reflects obeisance to two very different agendas. On defense and economic issues, Wilson has been a conservative loyal to President Reagan. He has been in favor of the Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly known as “Star Wars,” a space-based anti-missile shield. He has voted for aid to the Contras, and he has said he would be inclined to recommend pardons for Lt. Col. Oliver North and Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter, in the event they are found guilty of breaking the law in the Iran-Contra scandal.

On the other hand, Wilson has broken ranks with conservatives over such sensitive social matters as abortion, funding for acquired immune deficiency syndrome and sex education. He has resisted Administration efforts to expand offshore drilling along the California coast, and he has joined with Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston in working to add 1.7-million acres of California wilderness to the national park system.

Wilson’s votes in Congress add up to a profile of a middling conservative, rated by the National Journal last year as 76% more conservative than his colleagues on economics, 65% more so on foreign policy and 61% on social policy.

It is not an easy record to hype.

At the same time, Wilson comes to the race with acknowledged strengths.

He has raised $3.4 million, and he has most of it left. In contrast, McCarthy has about $700,000 left of the $1.5 million he raised.

Influential Constituencies

Wilson’s popularity extends to two very influential and affluent constituencies: Hollywood and the Jewish community.

Moreover, Wilson’s ability to stay clear of publicity’s glare may have helped him as much as it has hurt him.

It is interesting to see both Wilson’s friends and enemies looking to exploit those rare moments when he has been in the spotlight.

For example, there was the dramatic moment in 1985 when Wilson, who had just undergone an emergency appendectomy, was wheeled on a gurney from his hospital bed to the Senate floor to cast a key vote on a deficit-reduction measure.

Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, a Republican colleague who is running for President, likes to recall the episode as a brave gesture by a stricken statesman who was determined to strike a blow for fiscal responsibility.

The McCarthy camp, on the other hand, is mulling over the incident from a different slant. They envision a campaign ad that shows Wilson bestirring himself from a federally subsidized hospital bed to vote for a freeze in Social Security benefits.