Feinstein, Wilson in Bitter Clash at Debate : Politics: He attacks her acceptance of large campaign donations. She criticizes his Senate attendance record.

Gubernatorial candidates Dianne Feinstein and Pete Wilson clashed Sunday in their first debate on Wilson’s U.S. Senate attendance record, campaign funding and their visions for the state’s future.

In a live, televised session, Democrat Feinstein and Republican Wilson both claimed to be the candidate of new ideas.

“I think there’s a need for someone that’s fresh, new and a little bit different,” said Feinstein, the former mayor of San Francisco.

Wilson said that being a Republican would not handcuff him in Sacramento, where the Legislature is dominated by Democrats. He also portrayed himself as a reformer.

“I’m running for governor because I want to make changes in California that I think need to be made,” said Wilson, a U.S. senator.

But the debate quickly turned to attacks, some of them personal.

Feinstein accused Wilson of having “the worst attendance record in the Congress,” missing votes on the death penalty, Supreme Court confirmation, Middle East resolutions and the budget.

“I think absenteeism is an important indication of performance,” Feinstein said.

Wilson countered that he has a 93% attendance record overall, 2% better than Democratic California U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston.

Taking the offensive, Wilson criticized Feinstein for accepting large campaign donations in the wake of a judge’s overturning of Proposition 73, which had limited individual donations to $1,000.

He singled out Feinstein’s acceptance of $150,000 from a California Highway Patrol organization.

“Dianne, I am truly shocked that you would be so blind to so gross a conflict of interest,” he said.

The one-hour debate, televised from KNBC-TV’s studios in Burbank, marked the first time the rivals for governor have met face-to-face in eight months, and their first-ever televised showdown. A second and final televised debate is scheduled Oct. 18 in San Francisco.

The debate was divided into two segments: 30 minutes of questions from a panel of political reporters followed by 30 minutes in which Feinstein and Wilson questioned each other.

With less than a month to go before the Nov. 6 balloting to succeed retiring Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, the two televised debates could be decisive because Wilson and Feinstein have been virtually tied in every independent poll published since winning their party nominations in the June primary.

The two most recent polls, both conducted in the final few days of September, reported Feinstein ahead by two percentage points and Wilson by one point, respectively.

But if the debates are decisive, it won’t be because millions of Californians watched the full 60-minute confrontations. By contrast, ratings for both were expected to be low.

The Sunday debate was up against the second game of the American League baseball championship series between Oakland and Boston on one network and a Los Angeles Raiders-Buffalo Bills NFL football game on cable television and local TV.