POLITICAL BRIEFING

SUNBELT DOLLARS: Money is suddenly on the minds of anxious Democrats watching this year’s three big gubernatorial races in Florida, Texas and California. “In all three cases, the Republicans are likely to have substantial financial advantages,” said one Democratic operative closely involved in the contests. “That could be the key in these three crucial races.”

In Florida, Democratic front-runner Lawton Chiles’ pledge not to accept any contribution larger than $100 virtually guarantees that if he wins the nomination he will face a large financial disadvantage against Republican Gov. Bob Martinez, who is planning to raise $13 million, Republican sources say. In California, neither Dianne Feinstein nor John K. Van de Kamp is likely to have much money left after their bruising June primary for the Democratic nomination--while Republican Sen. Pete Wilson has been stockpiling a campaign treasury that some expect will top $15 million.

Ironically, the Democrats’ best opportunity to remain financially competitive may come with nominee Ann Richards in Texas--but only if businessman Clayton W. Williams Jr., who spent some $6 million of his own money to win the Republican nomination, sticks to his pledge not to reach any deeper into his own pockets. Even so, Richards has her work cut out: In his first major fund-raiser for the fall, Williams raised more than $1 million in Houston last week.

CONVENTION SITES: With the four-city sweepstakes for the 1992 Democratic convention site entering the home stretch, New York appears to be in first place, with New Orleans closing fast, those close to the process report.

New York’s big asset is its pledge to raise $22 million to pay for such things as security and transportation. But the Big Apple is said to be short of work space for the press near Madison Square Garden, prompting some media organizations to lobby against its selection.

New Orleans on the other hand, would have plenty of room for journalists near the Superdome. But officials worry that the downtown hotel space might be skimpy. Cleveland is rated only a dark horse because it is low on hotel rooms while Houston--said to be lacking in enthusiasm, perhaps because of lingering disappointment over its failure to get the ’88 convention--is bringing up the rear.

Some sources suggest another factor might help New York when party chairman Ron Brown makes his decision next month: Brown’s lifelong friendship with Mayor David N. Dinkins. But Brown says he is on good terms with all the mayors involved and vows: “I’m going to do what’s best for the party.”

VCR ATTACK: As candidates look for new ways to reach voters increasingly inclined to flip the channel at the first hint of a political commercial, a California tactic is spreading east. During the 1988 campaign, Democrat Anna G. Eshoo dispatched squadrons of volunteers to hand-deliver more than 100,000 copies of an eight-minute campaign video to voters in California’s 12th Congressional District. Eshoo lost that Northern California election, but other candidates are now turning to the video vogue as an alternative to the high cost of television. Last week, two candidates bidding for the Republican nomination in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District took the experiment a step further, mass mailing thousands of biographical videos to residents in the affluent, suburban district centered around Princeton.

NATIONAL RACE FOR WILDER?

Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder would have broader appeal than the Rev. Jesse Jackson on the 1992 national Democratic ticket in the view of California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. Ever since he became the nation’s first elected black governor last November, Wilder has been making speeches urging his party to move toward the political mainstream, a tactic many analysts believe is designed to make him more acceptable to party leaders than Jackson, and perhaps gain him consideration as a vice presidential candidate.

Although the “Jackson candidacy among racial minorities would be easier to sell,” says Brown, national co-chairman of Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign, “I think a Wilder candidacy would be an easier one to sell to the nation as a whole.”