CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : Senate Candidates Flock to Labor Day Rallies to Work for Votes : Politics: The four vying for the two U.S. Senate seats and hundreds of candidates for state and local offices mark the traditional start of the campaign.

From the Bay Area to the Rose Bowl, hundreds of candidates seeking election to the courthouse, the Statehouse and Congress opened the fall campaign Monday at all-American, apple-pie Labor Day events.

With the presidential candidates stumping the Midwest, the focus in California was on the four major party candidates for the two U.S. Senate seats that are at stake simultaneously in California for the first time since the Golden State entered the Union in 1850.

Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both leading in the most recent statewide opinion polls, outlined similar economic stimulation themes and offered comments typified by Feinstein’s remark to a Labor Day picnic and rally in North Hollywood: “The status quo must go.”

At a Labor Day picnic at the Alameda County fairgrounds, Boxer said President Bush has no answer for unemployment of nearly 10%.

Both Democratic women called for deep cuts in American military aid to Japan and allied nations in Europe with the savings going to investment in education, employment and other programs at home.

After initially planning to forgo Labor Day campaigning, their Republican opponents hastily assembled Labor Day itineraries last week. Commentator Bruce Herschensohn and appointed Sen. John Seymour addressed about 50 people at an “All-Republican Candidates Car Rally Parade” in a park next to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Herschensohn focused on his specialty in foreign relations and Seymour emphasized his economics program based on a phased reduction in arms spending, approval of a free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, and passage of a balanced budget constitutional amendment.

Also making the Labor Day rounds were candidates for California’s 52 seats in the House of Representatives, 80 state Assembly seats, 20 of the 40 seats in the state Senate, county boards of supervisors in California’s 58 counties and other local posts.

In the presidential sweepstakes, California is the biggest prize of all, with 54 electoral votes, one-fifth of the 270 needed to elect a President. But Vice President Dan Quayle was the only national candidate campaigning in California on Monday, appearing at a fair in Lodi, near Stockton.

Public opinion specialists say all candidates face voter frustration and antipathy toward incumbents. State lawmakers in particular are likely to face voter animosity. It was only last week that they worked themselves out of the long state budget impasse with Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

At the rally near the Rose Bowl, Seymour and Herschensohn posed for pictures with ethnic groups such as United Muslims of America and Cambodians for Bush, then took to a small stage with several Republican congressional candidates.

Referring to Labor Day as the kickoff of the “last lap of this race,” Seymour said it was a fitting day to focus on this year’s crucial elections.

“When it comes to this particular campaign in California, I can tell you there are three very important issues that California wants to hear from the candidates,” he told the crowd of sign-waving supporters.

“Those three important issues are jobs, jobs, jobs.”

He contrasted his and Feinstein’s philosophies on how to revive the economy, saying Feinstein advocates a too-drastic reduction of military spending compared to his more gradual build-down.

Seymour also highlighted his support of the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it will help the economy grow. Feinstein opposes the pact, saying it will cost too many American jobs.

“If you do believe in leaving a legacy to our kids and grandkids, one that is filled with hope and optimism and opportunity, yes, and free trade, then you ought to vote for John Seymour,” he said.

Seymour’s remarks seemed aimed at drawing a clearer distinction between him and Feinstein, whom many political experts regard as similar in a number of key positions.

Herschensohn focused on foreign policy issues, asking his listeners to imagine how different the world would be if Democrats, and not Republicans, had run the White House in the last decade.

Linking Democratic leadership with Cold War-era Soviet strongmen, he credited Bush and former President Ronald Reagan with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the demise of the Soviet Union, elections in Nicaragua and the “liberation” of Grenada, among other developments, suggesting none would have happened if the Democrats had been in charge.

Had George Bush lost to Michael S. Dukakis in 1988, Herschensohn said, “I think it’s entirely possible, even probable, that at this time Saddam Hussein would rule the Persian Gulf states and would have authority over much of this nation’s energy.”

Speaking earlier to reporters, Herschensohn underscored the sharp contrast between him and Boxer, portraying her as a big-spending liberal incumbent who did not support Bush’s decision to go to war against Iraq.

Herschensohn also was scheduled to attend a barbecue in Torrance to honor Republican volunteers and Seymour was to speak to out-of-work defense industry employees and others at the annual Alfalfa Festival in Lancaster.

The Los Angeles County Labor Federation picnic in a North Hollywood park, meanwhile, took on the air of a pep rally as Democratic elected officials and candidates were introduced to the crowd.

From Los Angeles City Council members Mike Hernandez and Michael Woo to state Controller Gray Davis, the themes were similar: It will take a Democratic sweep in November to put Americans back to work.

The crowd waved mock pink slips symbolizing a 60-day termination notice for the Bush Administration.

Turning to traditional Labor Day themes, Feinstein bemoaned California’s soaring unemployment rate.

“This is the day when working men and women celebrate the No. 1 family value that there is--a job,” Feinstein told the audience, speaking from a tree-shaded bandstand. “And yet, this Labor Day gives us nothing to cheer about.”

She held Seymour accountable for what she suggested was a lack of leadership as the economy continued to stagnate in the year and a half since the senator took office.

“My opponent, John Seymour, said when he was inaugurated that this recession would be short-lived, that all we need to do was pull in our belts. . . . Well, John Seymour, I’ve got news for you: 442,000 Californians have lost their jobs on your watch and you haven’t done anything about it. It’s time for us to take your job and create jobs for Californians instead.”

Feinstein reiterated her plans to “materialize a real peacetime dividend” by taking billions of dollars used to defend European allies and Japan and channeling the money to domestic programs, such as transportation, schools, research and development and worker retraining.

Earlier in the day, Feinstein attended a Labor Day brunch in San Bernardino, also held to honor labor activists.

For the first time in the memory of political old-timers, the Democrats did not kick off their Southern California campaign with the traditional Catholic Labor Institute breakfast in Los Angeles. Feinstein launched her campaign for governor against Wilson there two years ago, but the breakfast since has been canceled.

Bill Robertson, head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, said the decades-old tradition succumbed to strife between organized labor and Cardinal Roger M. Mahony over Mahony’s dispute with union gravediggers. A spokesman for Mahony said the cardinal believed that the breakfast had become too much of a partisan forum for Democratic candidates.

In its place, the county labor federation invited candidates to its North Hollywood picnic.

In Northern California, the most prominent event for Democratic candidates is the traditional Alameda County AFL-CIO picnic at the Alameda County fairgrounds in Pleasanton. It was here that George S. McGovern launched his 1972 presidential drive before an audience of thousands that packed the grandstands. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. kicked off his 1974 campaign for governor in similar fashion.

Although these Labor Day events usually draw only Democrats, some Republicans were in the crowd. They included Ray Sloan of Walnut Creek, a leader of the moderate California Republican League and a supporter of Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Stanford) in the June 2 primary against Herschensohn.

Sloan said he is backing Clinton and Boxer and that several hundred like-minded Republicans in Contra Costa County are considering the same move.

Boxer, 51, and Herschensohn, who will be 60 on Thursday, seek the full term held by Democrat Alan Cranston, who is retiring after 24 years in the Senate.

Feinstein, 59, and Seymour, 54, are seeking the seat vacated by Wilson when he was elected governor. Wilson chose Seymour for the appointment to his seat, subject to election this year.