GOVERNOR : Wilson and Feinstein Call Out the Presidents : Republican: Reagan asks him to win for the Gipper. Bush praises him on environment.

Sen. Pete Wilson called on Republicans Saturday to make modern California electoral history--and rise to a challenge from “the Gipper”--by electing the full slate of GOP candidates on Tuesday.

Wilson led the other candidates for statewide office on a bus tour of Southern California that was the kickoff for a three-day, get-out-the-vote odyssey up and down the state. The tour began with a rally in Thousand Oaks featuring President Bush and incumbent Gov. George Deukmejian.

On the campus of California Lutheran University, the Republican governor appealed to Wilson for a victory Tuesday so he could turn his Sacramento office over to him in January and not to Democrat Dianne Feinstein: “Do this one for the Duke--OK?”

And the day ended with a rally at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga with former President Ronald Reagan saying: “Pete, can I ask a personal favor? Will you go out there and win this one for the Gipper?”

As for Wilson, the 57-year-old junior senator, there was little to do but bask in the light of so much political stardom, along with the jokes of comedian Bob Hope. He devoted most of his two brief speeches, and a quick stop in Glendale, to appeals for a big turnout and for success for the other six statewide GOP nominees.

At Chaffey College, with Reagan sitting nearby wearing a familiar brown checked sport coat, Wilson noted that 1966 was a landmark year in California politics--an election in which Reagan helped propel all but one member of the GOP ticket into office. It also was the year that Deukmejian was elevated from the Assembly to the Senate and Wilson was elected to his first public office, in the Assembly.

Wilson related that during an earlier meeting with Reagan, he told the former governor and President how proud he was of the 1990 Republican slate.

He recalled saying: “Mr. President, this is the best ticket since 1966, when you swept us all to victory. And he said, ‘OK, Pete, top me.’

“So you’ve got to help me, my friends,” Wilson implored. “I’ve been challenged by the President of the United States. Make sure, please, that you send this ticket with me.”

No one expects such a sweep. While Wilson has held a small but consistent lead over Feinstein in some opinion polls, Democrats have the edge in most of the other statewide offices. The closest races in the polls have been for treasurer and attorney general.

Appearing with Wilson during the day were the GOP nominees: State Sen. Marian Bergeson for lieutenant governor, Dan Lungren for attorney general, Treasurer Thomas Hayes running for a full term, Matt Fong for controller, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores for secretary of state and Wes Bannister for the new post of insurance commissioner.

Except for treasurer, all the existing statewide posts below governor are held by Democrats.

At California Lutheran University, Wilson helped President Bush plant an oak tree and Bush extolled Wilson’s assistance in passage of the Clean Air Act of 1990. He had hoped to sign the bill during Saturday’s appearance as another political bonus for Wilson, but the final, official copy of the legislation was not available.

Inside the gymnasium, Bush said it was “absolutely essential” that Wilson be elected governor Tuesday. Bush also praised Wilson for helping to persuade the President to protect most of the California coastline from federal offshore oil drilling.

Deukmejian said the Democrats are “salivating” to regain the governor’s office after his eight years. But he said the team of Feinstein and Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown Jr. (D-San Francisco), Feinstein’s political ally, “will institute a laundry list of spending that will take California’s taxpayers and businesses to the cleaners.”

Although Wilson is confident of victory, Deukmejian reminded the crowd of about 1,000, mostly students, that he won the governorship in 1982 by only about 50,000 votes over Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

At Chaffey College, Hope referred to Wilson as “Mr. 8%” because that was the margin he enjoyed in one recent statewide poll. After Tuesday, he cracked, “Pete Wilson will be governor and the rest of us will be able to get our regular commercials back on television.”

When it came his turn--after being introduced by Wilson as “the man who won the Cold War”--Reagan told a crowd of several hundred that it is critical that Wilson be elected to ensure that Republicans get a fair reapportionment plan from the state Legislature, which is expected to remain in Democratic control.

The former President said Wilson, if elected, may face the same sort of fiscal problem he did when he took office in 1967, when the state was spending $1 million a day more than it was taking in.

“I had to find ways to even things up,” Reagan said. He did that in part through the passage of what at the time was the biggest tax increase in California history.