CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / U.S. SENATE : Huffington Seeks Swing Votes; Foe Gets Key Support : Republican campaigns in Fresno and Visalia. Five defense industry leaders endorse Feinstein, who celebrates President’s signing of desert bill.

Republican Senate candidate Mike Huffington appealed to the swing voters of California’s Central Valley on Monday while rival Sen. Dianne Feinstein celebrated her victory in passing the desert protection bill and won the endorsement--rare for a Democrat--of five top defense industry leaders in Los Angeles.

The volatile Senate race surged toward Election Day next Tuesday with both candidates watching polls that showed the contest still close, although Feinstein’s support was improving. The Field Poll found Feinstein beating her GOP rival 45% to 39% among the most likely voters--a turnaround from last month when the same poll found the race dead even.

Half of the poll respondents were queried after Huffington acknowledged that he violated federal law by employing an illegal immigrant at his home for a little more than four years.

Huffington campaigned Monday in Fresno and Visalia, areas traditionally friendly to GOP candidates.

“It’s not a matter of shoring up (support), it’s a matter of running (votes) up,” said Huffington adviser Ken Khachigian, who was traveling with the candidate. “If we don’t win this area by a big margin, we lose, no question.”

In other developments Monday:

* Attorneys representing the Huffingtons paid $10,450 in back taxes and penalties to the Internal Revenue Service, correcting a violation stemming from the employment of their illegal immigrant nanny, Marisela Garcia. The Huffingtons released records showing that they paid three years of taxes for Garcia, but they acknowledged that no taxes were paid for the first year of her employment. Campaign officials did not say how much of the settlement represented back taxes and how much was penalties.

Huffington attorneys also approached the Immigration and Naturalization Service on Monday but were told that any penalties would not be determined until after the election. Federal law prohibits employers from hiring illegal immigrants and requires that they check employees for citizenship.

* The Huffington campaign released two signed statements from the illegal immigrant and her husband, Fermin Garcia. In a one-paragraph statement dated Monday, Marisela Garcia confirmed the Huffingtons’ statement that she had not worked for them since August, 1993. Her husband, also an illegal immigrant, signed a two-page statement, saying he had never worked for the family, countering sources who have told The Times that Fermin Garcia was paid for doing various temporary work at the home.

* In Washington, President Clinton signed the California Desert Protection Act into law Monday, ending a long congressional battle to put nearly 8 million acres of fragile Southern California land off limits to developers. Feinstein celebrated the event in Los Angeles with leaders of the Sierra Club, which supported the bill.

* Feinstein won the endorsement of five top defense industry leaders from Northrop Grumman Corp., Hughes Aircraft Co., Douglas Aircraft, Rockwell International and TRW. At a news conference, the leaders countered Huffington’s contention that Feinstein’s support for defense cuts has cost jobs in California and jeopardized military preparedness. They said Feinstein has fought hard for a number of military projects that have saved thousands of California jobs.

* Huffington’s campaign produced a new television commercial that sought to draw a basic contrast between the two candidates. “When you strip away all of the campaign rhetoric, simple truths emerge,” the candidate says, speaking to the camera. “I’ve consistently voted for lower spending and lower taxes. Mrs. Feinstein has consistently voted for higher spending and higher taxes.”

Feinstein also indicated in an interview on the Michael Jackson radio talk show Monday that she will end her campaign on a high note, producing a positive television commercial that will highlight some of her accomplishments in Washington.

* Feinstein’s day began with a surprise when she was being driven to her morning news conference and happened upon a bicyclist who had been struck by a car moments earlier. Feinstein ordered her staff to stop the car and call 911. Campaign officials said she put her red suit jacket over the bleeding victim to keep him warm until an ambulance arrived.

The Feinstein endorsement from the defense companies was perhaps most significant because the industry leaders rebutted one of Huffington’s major complaints about his opponent.

Huffington has said that Feinstein’s support for a reduction in the defense budget cost thousands of jobs in California and threatened the nation’s military preparedness. The Republican candidate has said that he would support a larger defense budget.

The defense industry leaders praised Feinstein for her understanding of their issues and for fighting for their projects. They acknowledged defense industry downsizing, but said that the cuts would probably have been larger if Feinstein was not such a strong advocate.

“All of us here are fighting very hard to make sure the American public understands the importance of defense, and I believe Dianne Feinstein does very well,” said Kent Kresa, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Northrop Grumman Corp. “There are certain realities in how far one can go and I would say that Dianne Feinstein does her homework, understands what the issues are and has fought very hard for a lot of programs that probably would be a lot smaller today had she not been out there to make things happen.”

The industry leaders said they were speaking as individuals, not on behalf of their companies and their employees. Those joining Kresa were C. Michael Armstrong, chairman and CEO of Hughes Aircraft Co.; Robert Hood, president of Douglas Aircraft; Sam Iacobellis, executive vice president and deputy chairman of Rockwell International; and Tim Hannemann, executive vice president of TRW Space and Electronics Group.

Feinstein said of their support, “These endorsements are very important to me because they come from California business leaders who understand the need for effective representation in Washington.”

Later in the morning, Feinstein met with supporters of the desert bill to celebrate the presidential signing.

The desert bill creates the largest U.S. wilderness area outside of Alaska and designates two new national parks in Death Valley and Joshua Tree. Much of the east Mojave Desert becomes a national preserve.

At a White House ceremony, Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), along with other key legislators and environmental activists, joined Clinton for the signing.

“This is a deeply satisfying moment,” said Miller, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, who oversaw the bill’s sometimes rocky journey through the House.

In Los Angeles, desert bill supporters praised Feinstein’s help. “No one in this room should have any doubts at all: Without Dianne Feinstein, we would not have gotten a desert bill,” said Sam Schuchat, executive director of the California League of Conservation Voters. “Sending her back to Washington is one of the most important things we can do this year.”

In the Central Valley, Huffington attacked “the liberal media” for writing negative stories about his campaign. In a speech to a bipartisan club of about 350 people, Huffington emphasized his theme that he is a Republican who is tough on crime running against a big-spending Democrat.

“You have a career politician who has been in office for almost 25 years,” he said. “You have a candidate like myself who has spent 20 years, like all of you, in business, and only got involved (in government) two years ago.”

Throughout his speech, Huffington seemed more relaxed than in recent days, even joking about the firestorm of publicity that has surrounded his admission of hiring an illegal immigrant.

“First of all . . . I want to apologize over the last couple of days for taking away so much media attention from the O.J. Simpson trial,” Huffington said. “My wife and I both agree that next Tuesday that I have a good chance of winning this race if we can just maintain our honeymoon with the press.”

Huffington made no mention of his support for Proposition 187, the ballot measure that would cut health and education benefits to illegal immigrants.

Huffington increasingly has blamed the media for trying to hinder his campaign. In recent days, the Huffingtons have argued that reporters covering the race were tools of the Feinstein campaign.

“You have a candidate who will not only stand up to the politicians, but who will stand up to the liberal press,” Huffington said. “And they don’t like it at all, because I have gone around them and gone directly to you--the people.”

Times staff writers Amy Wallace in Los Angeles and James Bornemeier in Washington contributed to this report.