State’s Democrats Split on Budget Vote : Congress: A freshman from San Diego agonizes but supports the President. Two of three conservatives from the San Joaquin Valley vote no.

Rep. Lynn Schenk (D-San Diego) was having a bad vote day.

Caught in political quicksand over her vote on the White House budget package, she was still undecided late Thursday afternoon and the vote was a few hours away. Please, no interviews. Not now.

In the past few days, she had had a bellyful of talk and it mostly went like this: “Are you with us on this thing? The President is counting on you.”

The President himself called Thursday morning to say, in so many words, the President is counting on you.

But decision was coming tough. First term, a new district with “independent” voters, many wealthy, who were registering profound dismay over the tax hikes for the rich in the Clinton package. To see her Thursday was to see the embodiment of Democratic freshman anxiety on the First Really Big Vote.

Less than an hour before the scheduled vote, Schenk was still uncommitted--but “leaning” toward voting for the budget plan. When the time came, she did vote in favor.

“The main point is deficit reduction and this bill starts the process,” she said. “There are 435 of us in the House and probably 400 points of view. By necessity, the bill that comes out of the House won’t make everybody happy. It’s the first step in a three- or four-step process.”

Schenk was not supposed to be one of the hard sells among California representatives. The conservative Democrats in the farming districts in the San Joaquin Valley were.

All day long, Reps. Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres), Richard H. Lehman (D-North Fork) and Calvin Dooley (D-Visalia) were regarded as the wayward Democrats.

All had major problems with the House bill. Particularly troubling to them was the proposed energy tax. Agriculture is an energy-intensive enterprise and the so-called BTU tax would ripple across the farming districts like an ill wind.

The political muscle, mainly in the form of phone calls from Cabinet members, did not seem to be fazing these Democrats.

To make matters worse, a ham-handed White House attempt last week at political persuasion made Dooley dig in even deeper.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy was scheduled to visit Dooley’s district on Monday, take a tour and generally dispense good cheer.

After the White House got wind of Dooley’s recalcitrance on the budget package, Espy was abruptly diverted, forcing the California congressman to dis-invite local officials and dismember the visitation schedule. The local media had a field day.

“Amateur hour at the White House,” Dooley said. “ . . . They created a hero out of me for bucking the White House.”

Dooley, playing along with a suggested football metaphor, said he had started the day on “his own one-yard line.” Late Thursday he was at “midfield” and reassessing his position.

If he could get “expressions of commitment” from the Administration and the House leadership that elements of the energy tax would be looked at to ease the load on farmers, then maybe . . . .

Dooley also voted with the majority. But Condit and Lehman voted against the plan.

And maybe the high anxiety throbbing through the Capitol is just another overrated legislative moment. “You hear a lot of talk about make-or-break votes,” Lehman said. “But I can’t remember a single one.”