Garamendi Leads Early Poll on Insurance Post

Just two weeks after announcing his likely candidacy, state Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) was reported Wednesday to have broken out in front of the field in the crowded race for the Democratic nomination for state insurance commissioner, according to a poll to be released today.

The independent California Poll shows Garamendi leading with support from 24% of those Democrats surveyed, according to those who have seen the poll results. Former Common Cause state director Walter Zelman is second with 14%, television commentator Bill Press third with 12%, San Francisco attorney Ray Bourhis fourth with 7% and State Board of Equalization member Conway Collis fifth with 4%. A sixth Democratic candidate, Alhambra City Councilman Michael Blanco, received no support. Another candidate, Riverside County insurance agent Larry Murphy, was not listed in the poll. Thirty-nine percent of those polled were undecided.

Another part of the poll, conducted by Mervin Field of San Francisco, examined name identification in the race, and shows Press with 34%, Garamendi 31%, Bourhis 15%, Zelman 14% and Collis 12%.

Attention often focuses on the race for the Democratic nomination where the candidates are better known.

Garamendi and Zelman hailed the results on voter preference as projecting them into the most promising positions in the race, while Press, as well as Collis’ campaign manager, Bill Zimmerman, dismissed the results as reflecting only the beginnings of what they characterized as a still unformed contest. Bourhis said he was encouraged at his name identification and relative standing, given the fact he is little known in populous Southern California.

The margin of error in such polls is wide, and some of those not doing well said Wednesday that the survey’s margins of support were statistically insignificant, although they conceded that the California Poll often boosts fund-raising for those who do well.

Garamendi, while saying that the poll results confirm his impression that he will run a strong race, remarked, “No one was ever sworn into office on the basis of a poll, so we run from here; it’s on to the campaign.”

Zelman, however, noting that he gets as much support in the candidate preference as he shows in name identification, said he is sure that he will do better as he becomes known, “because I’m the only one with the connection of a consumer advocate and no ties to special interests.”