Van de Kamp 2 Votes Short of Endorsement

In a heartbreak for his gubernatorial hopes, John K. Van de Kamp fell two scant votes short Sunday of winning a historic endorsement by the California Democratic Party and giving his campaign a much-needed lift.

After a weekend of speech making, lobbying and holding his fingers tightly crossed at the party’s convention in Los Angeles, the attorney general garnered 59.87% of the 1,615 votes cast, just short of the 60% needed for the endorsement.

Rival candidate Dianne Feinstein received 33.37% of the votes, with the remainder of the delegates voting for no endorsement.

A clearer result emerged in the crowded race for insurance commissioner, as former KABC television commentator Bill Press secured the endorsement with a surprisingly strong showing.

In the governor’s race, an initial count of the delegate vote had put Van de Kamp right at the 60% mark, and sparked rejoicing from him and his partisans. “Terrific result!” Van de Kamp enthused at a brief press conference. Armed with the endorsement, Van de Kamp could have billed himself as the party’s “official” candidate.

But a review of the votes showed him falling just shy of the magic number.

Nevertheless, there was some bragging from Van de Kamp.

“We won this convention; we won the vote of the people at this convention. The party has done a lot for us with that,” he said.

His campaign staff said it would ask for a meeting of the Credentials Committee to double-check the vote.

Not since 1913 have state Democrats been allowed to make an endorsement in contested primary races. But a recent federal court ruling cleared the way for the contest between Van de Kamp, the longtime party insider, and Feinstein, the former mayor of San Francisco and self-described outsider.

Feinstein’s campaign sought to diminish the importance of the results.

“We came here for the weekend and nobody had the endorsement. We’re going to leave here after the weekend and nobody has the endorsement. I don’t think it means a lot,” said Feinstein campaign manager Bill Carrick.

In the long run, the support of party delegates, who are significantly more liberal than Democratic voters in general, may have proved of arguable value.

But in the short run, there was no denying that this show of strength among the most dedicated of the party’s workers is encouraging for Van de Kamp, who has fallen behind Feinstein in the polls.

The convention was not at all tentative in offering its endorsement in another race--the lively contest for state insurance commissioner. Here, Press trounced six other candidates, including two Democratic elected officials--state Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) and State Board of Equalization member Conway Collis.

The tally for insurance commissioner was Press with 811 votes, or 64%, and Garamendi with 220 votes, or 17%. The other contenders lagged farther: consumer activist Walter Zelman had 67 votes, or 5%; Collis with 62 votes, or 5%; and attorney Ray Bourhis had 54 votes, or 4%. The two other candidates--Michael Blanco and Larry Murphy--were even farther behind.

The 60% threshold was instituted by the Democrats to assure that any endorsed candidate could demonstrate strong support from the field of liberal-leaning delegates.

Press’ endorsement followed an exhaustive, delegate-by-delegate hunt by his campaign staff that involved mailings and telephone contacts with those attending the convention.

“I have left this pack in the dust today with this endorsement,” said Press, who during a convention debate vowed to slap the insurance industry with multimillion-dollar fines if they violated state strictures.

Press was particularly elated by defeating Garamendi.

“I beat John Garamendi on his own turf,” he said, referring to the veteran senator’s longstanding visibility in party circles.

In another closely watched contest--for the nomination for attorney general--the convention failed to make an endorsement. San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith won 47% of the vote, compared to 44% for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner.

The vote followed the delegates’ firsthand look at the fur’s-a-flying debating style of the two.

With very few important differences between the two men on policy, the encounter emerged as a gritty revue of how neither trusts the other to do the things they both believe in, such as protecting abortion rights and standing in the legal path of offshore oil drilling.

Reiner, who was caught off stride by Smith’s aggressiveness at a previous debate, put himself on the offensive this time--questioning Smith’s willingness to stand up to political pressure or prosecute environmental offenders.

Smith, in turn, tried his own new tack--suddenly calling for a return to high-road campaigning for the sake of the “dignity of the office we seek.” But he then sought to give as good as he got, blasting Reiner for his handling of the McMartin Pre-School child molestation case.

The State Board of Equalization normally receives little notice at a convention. But in one district, the Democratic incumbent, Paul Carpenter, has been indicted on federal corruption charges. He tried to defuse the endorsement issue by saying that he did not want it. And the delegates obliged--he finished last behind three barely known candidates. Still, none won enough votes to gain an endorsement.

Before the voting, in her second speech in two days to delegates, Feinstein appealed to Democrats to ride “winds of change blowing across the world” and make history with the election of a woman.

“People finally have recognized the fact that the Oxford gray suit doesn’t necessarily mean right,” she told several hundred delegates at the annual Eleanor Roosevelt breakfast, which honors women candidates.

“People have recognized that leadership comes in different packages . . . that leadership can be just as effective whether it’s the product of men or women.”

The remarks earned Feinstein warm applause and a standing ovation, in sharp contrast to the dissatisfaction that greeted her the day before. On Saturday, she was roundly booed when she highlighted her support of the death penalty in a convention address.

Van de Kamp also attended Sunday’s breakfast but was relegated to the dining tables with other guests, while Feinstein sat at the head table.