CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : In the End, Roberti Lost by Winning : Treasurer’s race: State senator says he does not regret depleting his resources to fight a recall effort by the gun lobby. After 28 years, he plans to leave politics and practice law.

In the end, the most devastating defeat of state Sen. David A. Roberti’s long political career may be chalked up to a battle he won--surviving the tough recall organized by the gun lobby two months ago.

Roberti lost out Tuesday on becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee for state treasurer, at least in part because he spent himself dry defending his California Senate seat from the attempt to oust him.

So it was not the gun lobby that--in its own parlance--came in for the kill after wounding him. Instead, it was well-funded Sacramento developer and fellow Democrat Phil Angelides.

In capturing 55% of the vote, Angelides became an unwitting beneficiary of the gun interests’ attempted run at Roberti in retaliation for his assault-weapon ban--a bout that left the senator victorious but broke.

Unable to respond to Angelides’ attack ads, Roberti watched as his lead crumbled in the week before the election, a period in which his opponent’s campaign reached a crescendo with a flurry of nearly 12 million mailers.

“When the gun lobby goes after you, it does have an adverse impact,” a pensive Roberti said Wednesday. “I would have been in a far better position had there not been a recall.”

But Roberti said he has no regrets about draining his $800,000 treasury to beat back the recall, even though it meant he could scrape together only $1 million, compared with Angelides’ $3 million, for the treasurer’s race.

“It was too important to win, not just for myself but for the greater good of the public,” he said, adding that he wanted to send the gun lobby a message that it could not bully politicians.

Wednesday, Roberti swore off any more runs for elected office. He said he is contemplating offers from law firms and probably will resume practicing as an attorney when term limits force him out of office in December.

As Roberti pondered his future, his supporters reported a bitter aftertaste from Angelides’ TV airwave assault that attacked the 28-year legislator for his anti-abortion-rights views and for corruption in the Senate.

Their empathy for Roberti, who served a record 13 years as Senate president pro tem, was compounded by the fact that many had expected Angelides, a former state Democratic Party chairman, to set the standard for a more gentlemanly campaign.

“I thought the campaign run against David Roberti was disgusting,” said another onetime party leader, Peter Kelly, a Los Angeles lawyer. “I think that a former party chair doing that to someone who was such a great Democratic leader for all these years is just not right, and it isn’t fair.”

Senate Republican leader Ken Maddy of Fresno called Roberti’s defeat “perhaps the most tragic result” of Tuesday’s election. Noting that Angelides, 40, worked as a legislative aide before establishing himself as a developer, Maddy referred to him as “a former staff guy using a sleaze campaign.”

“I have some great sympathy for David,” Maddy said. “It’s a terrible way to go out.”

Two of Angelides’ four TV commercials aired in a $1.5-million statewide buy that slammed Roberti hard, with one ad portraying the Senate leader as corrupt. (Three senators whom Roberti appointed to leadership posts were convicted of federal corruption charges. But Roberti was never accused of wrongdoing.)

The other implied that Roberti--who as a devout Catholic opposes abortion--condoned the fatal shooting of a Florida doctor outside an abortion clinic. Roberti had denounced the killing as “horrific.”

“It was negative hyperbole at its worst. And he used it well,” Roberti said. “It’s going to say something about future campaigns where you don’t have any sifting for the truth.”

Roberti, who at 55 is a Sacramento legend after decades of representing Hollywood, East Los Angeles and, most recently, the San Fernando Valley, stands in sharp contrast to political newcomer Angelides.

While Angelides urged voters to choose a fresh face with a strong business background, Roberti pointed to a long list of legislative accomplishments--the nation’s first statewide day-care program for latchkey children, the country’s first assault weapon ban, breaks for renters, animal-rights legislation and more.

Since his first election on an anti-Vietnam War platform, Roberti has been seen as an advocate for the underdog and responsive to community wishes. A shy man who thrived on politics as much as he valued his privacy, Roberti was a sentimental favorite of many Democrats.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the two opponents had still not spoken to each other to offer congratulations or condolences.

“We haven’t talked,” Roberti said. Asked if he plans to actively support Angelides, Roberti said, “I haven’t thought about that.”

Angelides on Wednesday dismissed the notion that he profited from Roberti’s misfortune, noting that he supports gun control and backed the senator in the recall.

“Conventional wisdom was that it was a huge boost (in publicity) for my opponent,” Angelides said. “But in the treasurer’s race, it was a non-issue.”

Whatever the reason, Roberti’s colleagues seemed saddened by the outcome of Tuesday’s primary.

“I went to his room when I heard, and it was very heart-wrenching,” said state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), a family friend who got his start in politics as a field representative for Roberti in 1971. “I just gave him a good old bear hug.”

Times staff writer Carl Ingram contributed to this report.