Cranston Says He’ll Overcome Tarnished Image

First, he could feel it as his popularity plunged. Then he saw it measured in shocking black and white in the newspaper. And, by his own admission, Sen. Alan Cranston is no “dreamer” about the difficulty of redeeming his political career.

But Cranston said Friday he is not a believer, either--he does not believe things are as bad as the Los Angeles Times Poll measured them to be. He does not believe that 79%, or four-fifths, of Californians really think it is time for a new senator in 1992, when his term ends.

Above all, Alan Cranston said he is not a quitter. So drop that talk, he said to opponents. He’s still determined to run. He has peered into the abyss before, and fought his way back.

“I intend to run. I will run, and I have a reasonable--I think--prospect of winning. And I’m no dreamer. I’ve been through a lot of hard campaigns. I’ve lost campaigns,” the four-term senator told a jampacked press conference at his Brentwood reelection headquarters.

“I’ve seen myself and others come back from difficult circumstances and win. And I believe that can be done here.”

The Times Poll sampled public opinion about Cranston in light of his having accepted large political donations from Lincoln Savings & Loan owner Charles H. Keating Jr., and then intervening with federal regulators on Keating’s behalf. In a span of just eight weeks, Cranston’s favorableness rating dropped 24 points as measured by the poll.

Times Poll Director I. A. Lewis said that, in 20 years in the business, he has seen other public officials plummet further but never in his memory had someone fallen so far so fast.

Cranston’s fighting words did little to dampen the ambitions of a growing number of younger Democrats who believe the venerable Cranston will not rebound, not this time, not at 75. List makers could count at least seven Democrats of standing who are eyeing the seat or who would have to be considered potential rivals.

Rep. Barbara Boxer of Greenbrae, in Marin County, already has active supporters in the Hollywood feminist movement fanning the flames for her. The thinking goes that, if she makes headway, other Democrats who might otherwise be hesitant will be stirred into action.

Interviews with officeholders, contributors and strategists found a consensus on several mentionable names for such roles: state party chairman and former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos, state Controller Gray Davis, Rep. Mel Levine of Santa Monica and Rep. Robert T. Matsui of Sacramento. One dark-horse non-politician who has earned a spot on the “mentionables” list is Frank G. Wells, president of Walt Disney Co.

The list could grow longer still, depending on the outcome of the 1990 state elections--with either big Democratic winners feeling confident, or narrow losers trying to get back in the fight.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who is close to Boxer, told Bay Area reporters on Thursday that Cranston should “think very seriously” about retiring. She said a fifth term for the senator “would have been difficult even absent this incident.”

“I’m not at all surprised by the poll that shows my image is down,” Cranston said. “But I’m also not discouraged. Images are images, facts are facts. And I’m confident that, when the facts get through, the people of California can make a good judgment on my record of integrity and accomplishment in the Senate.”

In particular, Cranston said the poll cast the worst possible light on him because respondents were told the basic outline of the senator’s relationship with Keating and the troubled Lincoln S & L. Then they were asked their views.

“I wouldn’t vote for myself, frankly, if all I knew about me was what the charges have been and what the bad press has described,” he said. “ . . . I dispute the fact that four-fifths of the people of California have the view that was in that poll.”

He stood stoic at his press conference. Those who expected a show of emotion, or to be able to read dread in his eyes, were disappointed.

There is, he said, “plenty of time” in the next three years to face his critics, and to hope that investigations by the Senate and federal authorities clear his name and his actions.

He indicated that one thing he is counting on to save him is his legendary fund-raising prowess, the very thing that landed him in political trouble. Cranston declined Friday to reveal how much money he has raised for his far-off reelection campaign. He said he wanted to build up the total in the final weeks of 1989 to impress would-be challengers when campaign finance reports are compiled at year’s end.

Those who doubt his resolve for this upcoming campaign are reminded by Cranston’s supporters of the role that luck has played throughout his Senate career. He unexpectedly drew a feeble opponent in his first race in 1968, which he was never expected to win. In 1974 and 1980 he again drew weak challengers. Then, in 1986, he came up against a stronger and more moderate candidate in then-Rep. Ed Zschau of San Mateo. But Zschau obligingly foundered in the late going. Why, his supporters ask, should Cranston doubt his luck this time?

Cranston’s chief defense of his actions is that, yes, he and other senators intervened in a protracted federal investigation of Keating’s company. But Cranston insisted that he did nothing improper, that he sought only a speedy resolution, not necessarily a favorable one, and that he acted as no special favor to Keating, even though the businessman had given Cranston $47,000 in contributions and $850,000 for voter registration groups.

“It is my duty to try to resolve matters that involve constituents, and that is exactly what I was doing,” Cranston said.

As for helping such an important contributor, Cranston asked how could he not? “I would be one sorry senator if I refused to help someone because that person had contributed to me.”

While Democrats take stock of the senator as political prey, Republicans are beginning to rustle, too. Among those likely to consider the race are Zschau and conservative television commentator Bruce Herschensohn. Others mentioned are Reps. David Dreier of La Verne and Robert K. Dornan of Garden Grove.

Times political writer Keith Love contributed to this article.