Ueberroth Says He May Enter GOP Senate Race : Politics: Head of 1984 Olympics will decide by Friday. His statement takes state Republican leaders by surprise.

Peter Ueberroth, the former baseball commissioner and chief of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, said Wednesday that he is considering a campaign for U.S. Senate in the Republican race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston.

An attorney representing Ueberroth paid a non-refundable $2,502 filing fee Wednesday at the Orange County registrar of voters office and took out papers that must be returned by Friday to qualify for the race.

Later, Ueberroth issued a statement saying: “I am considering running for the U.S. Senate . . . and will make up my mind finally on Friday. In order to facilitate the decision either way, I have today authorized my representative to secure the appropriate nomination documents from election officials.”

Ueberroth’s move was a shock to Republican leaders around the state since he has said repeatedly over the last few months that he had no intention of running for political office.

The popular businessman is widely regarded as somebody who would be an instant top contender for the GOP nomination for the Senate seat. But some Republicans remain skeptical that he will run; Ueberroth’s name has been mentioned for other races and he has never followed through.

“Obviously, people have gone to the church too many times when the groom didn’t show up,” said Sal Russo, a Republican political consultant in Sacramento. “When the minister calls and says come to the church, then we’ll go.”

Ueberroth filed for the Senate seat that is already being sought by three other Republicans--Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Palo Alto), former television commentator Bruce Herschensohn and Palm Springs Mayor Sonny Bono.

Although he would be getting a late start, Ueberroth would come to the race with an extraordinarily positive image among Republican voters and an expected ability to raise lots of campaign money.

Ueberroth gained prominence when he headed the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and turned them into the first games to be privately financed and to generate a profit. His success led to his selection as Time magazine’s Man of the Year.

After the Olympics, he served five years as baseball commissioner. Now 54, he works with a Newport Beach investment and management company that tries to rescue financially troubled companies. He also sits on the boards of five major corporations and he raises walnuts, almonds and wine grapes in Central California.

“He brings a can-do attitude to government, which everybody thinks can’t do anything,” Russo said.

At the same time, Ueberroth has a reputation in Republican circles as someone who lacks the temperament required of politicians to endure tough campaigns and inspire voters. He is also untested on the campaign trail.

But his announcement Wednesday quickly caught the attention of strategists for the other campaigns.

“Our feeling is, as a former baseball commissioner, welcome to the National Football League,” quipped Herschensohn’s campaign manager, Ken Khachigian, who indicated that Ueberroth would be in for the kind of rough treatment he is not accustomed to.

Khachigian speculated that a Ueberroth candidacy actually would help Herschensohn by taking votes away from Campbell and Bono, who are more similar to him in philosophy. “It doesn’t give me heartburn if he gets in,” Khachigian said. “He just takes it out of Campbell’s hide. It leaves one true conservative running against three non-conservatives.”

But Campbell’s campaign manager, Ron Smith, contended that Ueberroth could hurt Herschensohn because he would be one more candidate to share a Southern California geographical base. Campbell is the only Northern Californian in the GOP race.

Marty Wilson, a campaign strategist for U.S. Sen. John Seymour, who is running for the second Senate seat on the ballot this year, said of Ueberroth: “He’s got pretty good name identification and positive ratings among the public, but the gloves come off when you suddenly say you’re a candidate, both as the media treats you and as other politicians will.”

He added: “The problem is, it’s awfully late to get in the race. I look at it from a mechanical problem. He’s going to have to go out and raise a lot of money fast, and at a time when a lot of money already is committed to other candidates. To come in at the last minute and expect people to divorce themselves from candidates they’ve already committed to is asking a lot.”

The last time the independent California Poll took a public opinion measurement of Ueberroth was three years ago. At that time, 60% of those surveyed had an opinion of Ueberroth and it was overwhelmingly positive--55% favorable and only 5% unfavorable.

In Sacramento, Ueberroth’s action caught virtually everyone by surprise.

One of Ueberroth’s best friends, Senate Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno, had lunch with the former baseball commissioner Monday and came away with the strong impression that he would not run this year. “He what?” Maddy exclaimed when informed Wednesday that Ueberroth had taken out candidacy papers. “He hasn’t talked to me about it. It’s a mystery.”

Ueberroth met for nearly two hours Monday with Gov. Pete Wilson to discuss the Council on California Competitiveness, to which Wilson appointed him as chairman in December. Ueberroth and gubernatorial aides said the Senate race was not discussed during the meeting.

Aides said Ueberroth told Wilson in December that he was not going to run for office this year, and that the governor expected him to devote considerable time trying to sell the recommendations of the competitiveness council after its report is completed in April.

Wilson is known to fear that if Ueberroth runs for the Senate, his candidacy would politicize the council, which the governor is counting on to recommend salable ways to improve California’s business climate. Ueberroth had assured Wilson that he would not use the council as a political platform.

Times staff writer Jeffrey A. Perlman also contributed to this report. Lesher reported from Orange County and Skelton reported from Sacramento.