Managers of California Presidential Campaigns : Old-Style ‘Coach’ Faces Cool Technocrat

They are the managers of the Bush and Duakakis presidential campaigns in California. One is like an old-fashioned football coach--earthy, restless, inspirational. The other is the new breed of political strategist: a cool technocrat, a numbers cruncher.

Which one is the Democrat and which is the Republican?

“I grew up in a very Democratic household in Chicago,” says Anthony Podesta, 44, the coach-like director of the state campaign for Democratic nominee Michael S. Dukakis. “My mother worked in the ward on Election Day. I want to make a difference in the things I believe in, and I like to roll up my sleeves and get out there.”

William Lacy, 34, the cool strategist, keeps Vice President George Bush’s effort on track with a style so unflappable he barely perspired recently when it was 107 degrees at the state fairgrounds and controversial vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle was pushing his way through the crowd.

‘Use of Message’

“I am mainly interested in trying to understand how you control the agenda,” said Lacy in his soft Tennessee twang. “You know, the use of research--not only polling, but election statistics and simulation. And the use of message, making sure you are positioned properly in a strategic sense.”

More than any other campaign staff members, these are the two who will have the most say over how the presidential contest unfolds in California, perhaps the most crucial battleground of 1988. In a state so large and complex it qualifies as a separate country in most economic categories, Podesta and Lacy command huge staffs of media experts, demographers, field organizers and press spokesmen.

Each is handicapped by a lack of California experience. But both benefit from close relationships to the national campaign managers. Podesta is a confidant of Dukakis campaign manager Susan Estrich and deputy chairman John Sasso. Lacy is a longtime associate of Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater.

Both campaigns reasoned that it was more important to have people they know in charge than to have experienced California hands. Both Podesta and Lacy are aware that theory is controversial and are seeking more California advisers and more autonomy from national headquarters.

Warren of Offices

Podesta works out of a warren of offices in West Los Angeles where he parks one ear on a telephone all day, uses the other ear to catch the latest developments from his staff and keeps both eyes on a TV screen watching new political commercials.

Podesta depends on his press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, a veteran of state campaigns, to keep him from saying La Costa when he means Contra Costa.

With the dark looks of an Italian movie star and the bark of a Vince Lombardi on the gridiron, Podesta specializes in motivating the troops to give the extra bit often needed to win a campaign.

It will come in handy on Election Day, Nov. 8, as the Democrats attempt to field the largest precinct organization in the history of the state to turn out their voters.

Podesta’s father ran a paper-cutting machine in a factory and his mother worked at home when he was young. He was graduated from the University of Illinois and was once a doctoral candidate in political science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has a law degree from Georgetown University.

Podesta’s introduction to campaigning was to run a New Hampshire county for former Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy’s presidential effort in 1968. He has also worked in Senate and other presidential campaigns.

From January of 1981 to July of last year, Podesta was president of Washington, D.C.-based People for the American Way, an organization formed by television producer Norman Lear to fight censorship of school textbooks, among other issues.

Lacy seems older than his 34 years--as much because of his serious manner as his graying hair. But he also has a wry sense of humor that keeps things loose in the Bush state headquarters in Sacramento.

Fun-Loving Type

His press secretary, Donna Lucas, a fun-loving type who enjoys mixing with Democrats, likes to joke that Lacy is already set to join California’s huge population of retirees. Lacy seems in awe of her ability to get almost anybody on the phone in two minutes.

“This state is so huge and complex, I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Lacy.

He grew up an only child in Cookeville, Tenn., halfway between Knoxville and Nashville. His father sold real estate and his mother worked at home. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University.

“I grew up in a conservative house,” says Lacy. “But I am tolerant of other people’s views.”

He has worked for the White House political operation, and he was an aide to Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in his presidential effort.

Lacy can tell you (but won’t, for strategic reasons) his calculation of the minimum number of votes Bush has to get in each of California’s 58 counties in order to win the state.

It includes a massive margin in Orange and San Diego counties, a strong showing--but not a victory--in Los Angeles County and very carefully calibrated projections for the big counties in Northern California.

Lacy says he had an advantage when he agreed to run California for Bush. Republican Gov. George Deukmejian is a shrewd judge of the state’s political landscape. Also, two of his longtime advisers, former campaign manager Larry Thomas and speech writer Kenneth L. Khachigian, gave Lacy valuable advice.

‘Three Cutting Issues’

“When I got here,” Lacy recalls, “I sat down with the governor and he said: ‘The three cutting issues for Bush in California will be national security, the economy and public safety. You go do your own polls and come back and tell me what you found.’ Well, I did, and he was right on target. We also found a fourth issue, so-called quality of life.”

Although he won’t say so, that last one presents Lacy with his greatest challenge. It includes the environment, education and health care--all issues on which Dukakis is expected to be better positioned than Bush.

But the quality of life issue is the only advantage Podesta had when he left Washington in midsummer to set up the Dukakis campaign in California.

In what many political professionals see as a major blunder, Dukakis’ Boston advisers had closed down their California operation after an easy win in the June primary. As a consequence, Podesta did not have the huge apparatus up and running when Bush came into the state right after the GOP convention in August and hammered Dukakis at will on a number of issues.

Within a month, a 17-point Dukakis lead in the California Poll had vanished and the number of voters viewing him unfavorbly had soared, a clear indication that Bush’s unanswered attacks had been effective.

Now the race in California is considered dead even. With 47 electoral votes--and perhaps the White House--on the line, Podesta and Lacy are settling into their bunkers.