CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / U.S. SENATE : Huffington Ad Blasts Feinstein’s Shift on Health Care : Senator is lambasted for dropping her support of the President’s plan. Her spokesman says she changed her stance to maintain flexibility on the issue.

Multimillionaire Republican Senate nominee Michael Huffington has launched his first television ad of the general election campaign, one that picks up where his hard-hitting primary campaign left off with a stinging rebuke of Democratic incumbent Dianne Feinstein.

The ad targets Feinstein for backing away from her initial sponsorship of President Clinton’s health care bill. By extension, it delivers a smarting and personal attack on Feinstein’s career in politics and asserts that she changed positions for political expediency.

“On May 25, Feinstein flip-flopped and deserted the health plan,” the ad says.

“It’s the only principle of a career politician--save your own skin.”

Feinstein’s campaign manager, Kam Kuwata, characterized the ad as a continuation of Huffington’s attempt to buy the votes of Californians.

“There’s only one principle Mr. Huffington is running on--to spend his father’s money . . . millions of dollars, to try to buy the election and trying to do it with more negative, negative, negative ads,” Kuwata said.

The exchange marked the escalation of what for weeks has been a tense confrontation between the two candidates, who are jointly expected to break all records for spending in a Senate race. In the primary, Huffington set a record for spending by giving $6.3 million of his own money by the third week of May.

During the primary campaign, the one-term congressman from Santa Barbara virtually ignored his fellow Republican, former Rep. William E. Dannemeyer of Fullerton, and focused his firepower on Feinstein. Feinstein initially sought to ignore Huffington but just before the primary joined the battle by launching ads that accused the Republican of avoiding California income taxes by keeping Texas as his legal residence. Texas has no income tax.

Huffington responded a day later, accusing Feinstein of failing to pay income taxes for three years.

Neither candidate had evidence of wrongdoing: Huffington said he was operating within the law when he listed Texas as his residence even though his wife and children lived in California. And Feinstein did not owe taxes for the three years he cited because of huge medical bills accrued shortly before the death of her second husband and because of later financial losses.

The latest dust-up centers on Feinstein’s initial support of the President’s health care plan. Last fall, she co-sponsored the Administration plan to reform the nation’s health care system. In late May, she withdrew her support.

Kuwata said Feinstein’s action stemmed from a desire to maintain flexibility as the health care package that is moving through Congress changes from its initial framework.

“She wanted to move the process along initially,” he said, adding that now “there’s no one around who believes that this is going to be the final product.”

“She wants to have the ability to fight for California and what’s in California’s interest. What the hell does Michael Huffington stand for?”

Huffington’s campaign spokeswoman, Peggy Bengs, said the congressman wants a health care plan that would allow workers to carry insurance from job to job, would exclude restrictions on pre-existing conditions, would standardize insurance forms, reform the legal system and most importantly be run by private firms.

But Huffington has offered no details on how such a plan might be accomplished and has not signed on to any of the Republican health care reform bills circulating in Washington, she said.

In the ad, Huffington speaks harshly of the federal government, saying the “government that gave us the welfare mess now wants to screw up health care.” He also flatly contends that “the Clinton plan takes away your right to choose your doctor.”

The latter statement is in dispute. The Clinton plan would give health care recipients the choice of several health care plans made up of large groups of doctors. Patients signing up for a plan that includes their doctor would not lose access to the physician.

Huffington spokeswoman Bengs said the congressman believes that access to a physician of choice would eventually be denied to patients.

The health care ad marks the second time that Huffington has attempted to diminish Feinstein by linking her with a program advocated by President Clinton. Earlier in the campaign, he targeted her support for the 1993 budget.