CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / NEWS ANALYSIS : GOP Spotlight Falls on Wilson, Not Huffington

Republican Senate candidate Mike Huffington has already done what many thought was impossible by forcing one of the Democrats’ most formidable incumbents into a tough fight for her political life.

As a result, he is a big reason for the high hopes of Republicans who gathered this weekend at their semiannual convention with visions of a GOP tide that might sweep out Sen. Dianne Feinstein, keep Gov. Pete Wilson in the Statehouse and make President Clinton’s job in 1996 much tougher.

But it was not Huffington who won the hearts of convention delegates as the man responsible for their possible good fortune. Instead, the show belonged to Wilson.

The governor was symbolically hoisted onto GOP shoulders and hailed as the Democrats’ conqueror. Huffington’s reception was more like a warm handshake.

“It must make it difficult for Huffington to comprehend how they cannot perceive him as being a hero,” said Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach). “This man is doing what they hoped in their wildest dreams somebody would do. . . . You would think the Republicans would roll out the red carpet for him.”

But like the rest of California, the Republican Party is still getting to know Huffington.

A recent Times poll found that more than half of the state’s voters don’t know much about the freshman congressman from Santa Barbara. And Republican Party delegates have not had a chance to learn much more.

“It’s not a negative value judgment, it’s just a matter of how long they’ve known him,” said one Huffington supporter.

The three-day Republican convention, which drew about 1,500 delegates from throughout the state, ended Sunday with a notably uneventful close.

The convention was held to cheer on the party’s candidates and inspire its activists. The delegates heard pumped- up speeches from two of the party’s 1996 presidential prospects, Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.) on Saturday night and Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) Sunday morning.

“Every now and then your party gets the opportunity to make a real difference,” Dole told the delegates. “This time is ours.”

Party officials worked behind the scenes to avoid any controversial resolutions Sunday that might distract from their candidates. As a result, the convention quietly adjourned well before noon.

The unity was a good sign for Huffington, indicating that in his first statewide race he can count on official GOP support. As Wilson knows, convention-goers are usually not shy about staging embarrassing protests when they are unhappy with their own party’s candidates, even if it sometimes jeopardizes election chances.

That was a possibility for Huffington because he shares many of the moderate positions on social issues that have provoked demonstrations against Wilson.

But unlike Wilson, Huffington has defused some of the potential problems by reaching out to conservatives, meeting with their leaders, hiring several key people for his campaign staff and speaking at their functions.

GOP regulars said the party’s relationship with Huffington is characterized more by a lack of understanding and inspiration.

“He is still trying to develop an emotional attachment,” said Steve Frank, a conservative party official from Los Angeles who supports Huffington’s campaign. “He does not have the background with the grass roots and that takes time to develop.”

The Republican Party apparatus is also traditionally more interested in a governor’s campaign than a U.S. Senate race. The membership is more Sacramento-savvy in its personalities and its issues--and governors have a more direct impact on California life than a U.S. senator.

But Senate candidates do run at the top of the state’s ticket and, when they push the right buttons, they can inspire an enthusiastic following.

Huffington, however, has not pushed a lot of those buttons, said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe. In this election, those buttons are crime and illegal immigration.

Huffington voted for the crime bill that passed in Washington recently--a popular vote for most state voters, but the bill was opposed by many Republican activists, who believe that the legislation contained too many social programs. Party officials seeking not to embarrass Huffington successfully scuttled a resolution in which the party would have condemned the crime bill.

On immigration, Huffington has yet to take a position on Proposition 187, which would deny most public benefits to illegal immigrants. Wilson endorsed the measure in his convention speech Saturday, sparking one of his biggest applause lines.

“The (delegates) are thinking about ideology and about issues,” Jeffe said. “You’re not talking about pragmatics here.”

Huffington also comes to the party through an untraditional route. By relying largely on his own money to pay for his campaign--so far, at least $10.5 million--he has not needed party officials in the same way that most standard-bearers have.

In his speech, Dole joked about Huffington’s wealth, saying, “I’ve said in jest, you go to his fund-raisers and he gives you money.”

And there are some Republicans who are still suspicious of Huffington.

He boasts in speeches that he is an independent outsider and, as proof, he notes that he has been willing to stand up to powerful influences, including his own party. He tells the story that he defied Republican leaders such as Wilson and Vice President Dan Quayle in 1992 when they asked him not to run for Congress against a fellow Republican. Huffington ended up unseating a veteran GOP incumbent in the most expensive House race in history.

“I think he has done a very good job of availing himself to the party,” said Steve Brody, vice president of the California Republican Assembly, the state’s largest grass-roots conservative organization. “I just don’t know if they’re ready to embrace him. People are still unsure of him.”