CAMPAIGN TALK : A Weekly Window On The California Elections.

Intelligence

The eyes have it: Call us, say the folks spending millions of dollars to oppose Proposition 134, and we will send you a copy of the measure that would put a new tax on beer, wine and liquor. The proposal itself, the opponents claim, is the best argument against the tax.

But what arrives in the mail is a document written in teensy-weensy type. However, notations in the margin--with a decided editorial slant in favor of the alcohol industry’s view--are nice and big and printed in blue for easy scanning.

So far, 22,000 people have requested copies of the initiative from the industry-backed Taxpayers for Common Sense. For those who don’t want to squint, the California Ballot Pamphlet in October will provide all voters with a full text of the proposal--in larger type and without the margin comments.

Surrogate circuit: Gubernatorial candidate Pete Wilson has no shortage of assistance coming his way from Republican heavy hitters this season, with President Bush headlining two fund-raisers in California next week, and Barbara Bush coming to the state the first week of October. But for Democratic candidate Dianne Feinstein, surrogate planning has hit a snag. Some of the party’s name politicians, like New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, are engaged in election campaigns of their own. Others, like Senate and Congressional leaders, are caught up in budget negotiations and the closing rush of the legislative season. “We’ve had inquiries from everyone and interest depends on when Congress leaves Washington,” said Feinstein’s campaign director, Bill Carrick.

Update: The “Women’s Choice” slate mailer destined for 2.5 million women voters has been re-tagged to settle the objections of abortion rights advocates who complained that the title implied that all the candidates on it favored abortion rights. Rob Rice, whose California Communicators firm is sponsoring the statewide mailer, said it was renamed “California Womens’ Voter Guide.” Said Rice: “Although I still really disagree with the contention, I decided if it was going to hurt their efforts, I was going to pull it.” Robin Schneider, executive director of the California Abortion Rights Action League, which requested the change, said she considered the new name a “small but significant victory.”

SOUNDINGS

From San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery, chairman of the “Yes on 131, the Clean Government Initiative,” accepting Assembly Speaker Willie Brown’s challenge to debate the merits of term limits for state officials:

“I agree with your implicit assertion that the voters of California should hear the Speaker of their Assembly defend his right to lifetime tenure.”

From Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), commenting on the difference between Democrats and Republicans in referring to Democratic support for an anti-graffiti bill:

“You want to make pornography and condoms available to children, but you want to ban paint spray cans. That really is the dividing line between us.”

EXIT LINE

“Demography is destiny, but it is a slow-moving process.”

--Walter Dean Burnham, a political scientist from the University of Texas in Austin, commenting to the Washington Post on politics and population shifts in rapidly changing areas like California.

CAMPAIGN FACT

It will take 6 hours and 20 minutes to listen to a tape recording provided by the Secretary of State’s office to explain the first 17 propositions on the November ballot. That earful doesn’t include 11 more measures squeezed onto the ballot at the last minute by the Legislature.