CAMPAIGN DATELINE : A window on the California elections : Slinging Issues or Mud in Feinstein-Seymour Race

Why is incumbent Sen. John Seymour far behind challenger Dianne Feinstein in the polls?

Seymour’s spokesman, Jeff Weir, has a novel answer. He says that a dearth of daily news coverage of campaign events--and the back-and-forth mudslinging that is so much a part of these events--has prevented the public from focusing on the differences between the Orange County Republican and his Democratic foe.

“All the media took a vow of celibacy early this year and beat their chests about how they wouldn’t get caught up following the politicians’ agendas . . . (and would) stay out of the mudslinging and follow the issues,” Weir said. “What that translates into is less coverage of the charge-counterattack interchange that is common in campaigns.”

Weir, who said that Seymour has thus far tossed only “well-deserved mud” at Feinstein, argues that issues stories tend to be “plain vanilla in terms of interest.”

Feinstein campaign manager Kam Kuwata said Seymour is losing precisely because of the issues. “When all else fails and you can’t argue on the merits of your candidacy, the only avenue is not to talk about 1,000 points of light, but about 1,000 balls of mud.”

Besides, Kuwata said, Weir is obviously mistaken on one point: “I’ve never known a reporter to be celibate,” he said.

Decline in Voter Registration

The percentage of eligible citizens registered to vote in California has declined over the last 12 years. The percentage rose in 1984, when Ronald Reagan was reelected as President. Voters also approved a state lottery that year. Here are the numbers of Californians eligible to vote and the percentage of those actually registered in the last six general elections.

TOTAL ELIGIBLE % REGISTERED YEAR TO VOTE* TO VOTE 1980 15,384,000 73.85 1982 15,984,000 72.31 1984 16,582,000 78.84 1986 17,561,000 73.08 1988 19,052,000 73.51 1990 19,245,000 70.03

* U.S. citizens in the state, 18 and over, minus prisoners and parolees.

Source: Secretary of state, Sacramento.

Compiled by researcher Tracy Thomas

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Shrinking expectations: September’s “spin of the month” award goes to the California Democratic Party for a press release that boasts of surging Democratic voter registration.

True, Democrats have registered more than twice as many voters as have Republicans in recent months. And true, Republican registration has dipped below 38% since February.

But in labeling the Democratic surge a “historic turnaround,” Democratic Party Chairman Phil Angelides failed to mention what is likely to be remembered as the most historic fact concerning California party registration this year.

With Democrats currently making up 48.65% of the electorate, the 1992 presidential race shapes up as the first in 60 years in which Democrats total less than 50% of all registered voters in California.

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The last angry man: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn has made it perfectly clear to reporters that he is miffed by talk of the “Year of the Woman” in politics, saying he hates the phrase and believes it is prejudicial against men.

Considering polling data that gives double-digit leads to both his opponent, U.S. Rep. Barbara Boxer, and her fellow Democratic Senate candidate, Dianne Feinstein, perhaps Herschensohn should have shaved his thick, silver mane and fled to New York.

There, it looks more like the “The Year of the Bald-Headed Man,” as incumbent Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato faces off against state Atty. Gen. Robert Abrams, flush from his primary victory over former vice presidential candidate Geraldine A. Ferraro and New York City Controller Elizabeth Holtzman.

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Anything goes: In his 1968 book about California government, longtime New York Times Los Angeles bureau chief Gladwin Hill, who died this month, argued that the state functioned smoothly despite such electoral eccentricities as the elevation of ex-actors and tap dancers to high office.

These days, most would laugh at a pairing of the words efficiency and Sacramento . However, there is one point Hill made in “Dancing Bear: An Inside Look at California Politics,” that’s probably more true today than it was a quarter of a century ago.

Discussing the proliferation of initiatives, Hill offered the following quote from a professional petition circulator: “ ‘If you give me $500,000, I’ll guarantee to get on the ballot a measure to execute the governor by Christmas.’ ”

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Unslated: In June, thousands of California voters failed to receive slate mailers until after the primary had come and gone.

This fall, they may not receive any slate mailer at all from Berman & D’Agostino (BAD) Campaigns, pioneers of the frequently deceptive ballot-like leaflets distributed just before elections.

A top official of the company that has printed and mailed the BAD slates for more than a decade says he has yet to hear Word One from BAD vis-a-vis the November election.

“It’s getting a little late and as far as we’re concerned, we’re not going to do one,” said Dan Siwulec, vice president of Below, Tobe & Associates, who blamed the late-mailing fiasco in June on BAD and the U.S. Postal Service.

Perhaps it’s just as well. Officials of the West Los Angeles political consulting firm, who could not be reached for comment, were also responsible for the June primary campaigns of unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidates Mel Levine and Gray Davis.

EXIT LINE

“Walking with the President most nearly resembled my experience walking with a zombie in Haiti. Only the zombie was less careful about how he chose his words.”

--Outside magazine writer Ed Zuckerman describing George Bush and his handlers hitting the trail at Sequoia National Forest during a brief campaign appearance.