Brief Lead Over Brown in Polls Boosts Agran Camp : Campaign: For 2 days, ex-Irvine mayor enjoys an edge over ex-governor among N.H. voters.

It may have been just a blip on the radar screen, but for one brief shining moment last weekend, “Larry Who?” out-sparkled “Governor Moonbeam” in the rapidly shifting political constellation over New Hampshire.

In two consecutive polls, former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, waging a long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, bested fellow Californian and former Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. by a single percentage point.

According to the American Research Group in Manchester, which is conducting daily polls for a media group, Agran on Friday and Saturday was winning the hearts and minds of 4% of New Hampshire’s Democratic voters, while Brown could claim the support of only 3%. The state holds the nation’s first 1992 primary on Feb. 18.

Statistically, the results were insignificant, because the polls’ margin of error is 5 percentage points, according to ARG President Dick Bennett. And Brown reversed the 4-3 standings in the latest poll, for the three-day period that ended Sunday.

But the Agran forces were ecstatic, nonetheless.

“I can’t tell you what this does for our morale here,” said Agran’s press secretary, Mike Kaspar, who seems to spend more time telling broadcast news directors how to pronounce Agran’s name than he does explaining the boss’s program. Agran has been excluded from most televised debates among Democratic candidates.

“The people of New Hampshire want the issues addressed and they want them addressed in a positive manner,” Kaspar said. “They don’t want someone to tell them what’s wrong.”

Agran, 46, who served as mayor of Irvine from 1984 until 1990, is pitching a program of massive defense cuts that Agran would use to finance a $150-billion-a-year “peace dividend” for the nation’s cities and school districts.

The candidate was unavailable for comment Monday. He was campaigning in South Dakota, which holds its presidential primary Feb. 25. Brown and his press secretary were also unavailable, a campaign spokesman said. They were in Maine, which holds party caucuses Feb. 23.

Both Brown and Agran trail the rest of the Democratic field. The difference is that Brown is at the back of the pack of the so-called major candidates, while Agran is the leader of the lesser-knowns.

In the ARG poll for the three-day period ending Sunday, former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas led at 27%, followed by Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton with 26%, Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey with 12%, and Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin with 7%.