Presidential Fever Grips Capital : Election: Sacramento political types wonder: Will Gov. Wilson run, and can he win? Meanwhile, resumes and media inquiries flood his office.

Not long ago, a new item began turning up in Leslie Goodman’s mail: resumes. They come from far and near, East Coast and West, from people who believe that Goodman’s boss, Pete Wilson, is a red-hot commodity, someone to whom they ought to hitch their occupational wagon--and quick.

One earnest lad made this pitch: If Gov. Wilson runs for President, he wrote, “I would appreciate being considered for an appropriate position on his national security and foreign affairs working groups.” Another eager beaver vowed to “quit my job tomorrow” for a spot on the Wilson for President team.

This swelling swarm of White House wanna-bes is just one sign of the fever that has gripped California’s capital--and political groupies well beyond. All over town, people are obsessed with two sets of questions: Will he or won’t he? (run for President, that is.) And if he does, can he or can’t he? (win, that is.)

“The rumors are bouncing all over the echo chamber,” said Ray McNally, a Republican political consultant. “Nobody has the slightest idea what will happen, but so what? The speculation is rampant anyhow.”

So far, Wilson has been coy about his plans, declaring that he finds the attention flattering but has not decided whether to leap into the 1996 presidential race just four months after winning a second term as California’s governor.

The known facts are these: Wilson has opened a “testing the waters” bank account, collecting money for a possible White House bid, and a small squad of advisers is sounding out contributors and strategists. On Monday, sources said the governor is about to go one step further by announcing the formation of an “exploratory committee” to formally investigate his prospects.

Wilson has said he will declare his intentions by the end of the month. While he weighs the pros and cons, the gossip fest rages on. Administration officials are musing about leaves of absence and the need for snow boots suitable for campaigning in New Hampshire. Consultants are courting Wilson’s inner circle, offering help and advice.

Democratic Party types, meanwhile--and no doubt some Republicans as well--are merrily chatting with operatives for Phil Gramm and Bob Dole, peddling inside poop on “the real Pete.”

As for legislators, they are finding the whole business an alluring distraction from the daunting realities of everyday life: “It’s a lot like the locker room buildup a few days before the big game,” said Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg (D-Sacramento). “You all sit around and go through the list of scenarios and don’t get anything else done.”

The collective conjecture includes assessing the governor’s warts and virtues, debating strategies enabling Wilson to capture the GOP nomination, and arguing over the impact of a presidential bid on California. Another popular past time? Reading the proverbial tea leaves. To wit:

* The Gridiron Dinner. “Aha!” cried the pundits upon learning that Wilson plans to attend the upcoming Gridiron Dinner, an annual theatrical affair with the elite of the Washington press corps. Never mind that Wilson has been a guest at the fete many times before. This time, said veteran GOP consultant Sal Russo, “people will attribute great meaning to his appearance. Look at the circumstances, the timing.”

* Dinner with Willie. Earlier this month, Wilson took the unusual step of inviting Assembly Speaker Willie Brown to supper. Gayle Wilson prepared a lovely meal, and the hosts were cheerful and gracious. “It was an interesting experience,” Brown recalled, “because I have not been invited to the Governor’s house . . . since Deukmejian left.” The Speaker isn’t sure, but he wonders: Was the gesture related to presidential politics?

* The Teeter sighting. On Wednesday, well-known pollster Robert Teeter, who worked for George Bush’s 1988 and 1992 campaigns, was spotted in the Capitol, adding new voltage to the presidential buzz. “I saw him come out of the governor’s office. It was about 4:45,” one Capitol insider reported. “I would say that’s further evidence” that Wilson is in.

(Reached at his office in Ann Arbor, Mich., Teeter confirmed that he had been in Sacramento and had met with members of the governor’s staff. Was it related to Wilson’s political future? Nope, Teeter declared. “I know a lot of those people, so I dropped in. That’s it.”)

* Speeches. For months, Wilson’s speeches have brimmed with themes of national appeal, from immigration to affirmative action and welfare reform. “This is no accident,” said Greg Hardcastle, president of the California Republican Assembly, a conservative activist group. “He’s obviously playing to a bigger audience now.”

For Wilson’s staff, the speculation about their employer’s intentions has spawned a period of pure frenzy. On top of the usual crush of attention from the Sacramento press corps, Wilson’s representatives now must cope with a deluge of inquiries from the national media, which has cast the governor as one of the best-equipped contenders for the presidency.

“CNN, NBC, ABC--everybody’s calling,” Sean Walsh, the governor’s spokesman, marveled the other day. “Yesterday, I had 74 calls. Last week, I got a call from Tom Brokaw, who I know from my D.C. days. He said, ‘Hey, what’s going on? We don’t want to get scooped on this.’ ”

Dan Schnur, who served as spokesman for Wilson’s gubernatorial campaign and has been recruited to help with the media onslaught, grew so weary of questioners that he left this greeting on his answering machine:

“Hi. This is Dan Schnur. If you’re calling to find out whether Pete Wilson is running for President or not, frankly I have no idea one way or the other. But if you want to talk about something else, please feel free to leave a message.”

Perhaps no one has felt the crunch as much as George Gorton, Wilson’s chief political adviser. Gorton is the point man on the presidential question. His life has become “absolutely frenetic.”

“There are days when I don’t even have time to go to the bathroom, and that’s bad for a man my age,” the 47-year-old Gorton said between phone calls and airplane rides last week. “Everybody in America--like CEOs of major corporations, consultants, Republican leaders from the senates of X, Y and Z state--they’re all calling to tell me why Pete Wilson should run and how he can win.”

The suitors include people such as Keith Nahigian, a former aide to Vice President Dan Quayle. Nahigian has a fine job with New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, but his real passion is presidential politics.

“A lot of us young Republican worker types are waiting and wondering what Wilson will do,” Nahigian said. “A lot of us would give up jobs and personal lives to work for a candidate like him.”

Political experts say all the will-he-or-won’t-he chatter could be a boon for Wilson. H. Eric Schockman, a political scientist at USC, called the speculation “part of the Alfred Hitchcock suspense formula that’s built into this shadow period” when a candidate is deciding whether to run. “It keeps him in the news. It enhances the candidate’s credibility.”

Indeed, Schockman and others suspect that Wilson’s painstaking decision-making process is a calculated move, designed to heighten interest and expand his name identification. Wilson officials deny such motives, but they have sent videotapes of his inaugural address to strategic columnists and pundits and urged the national media to cover his speech on affirmative action to the recent state Republican Party convention.

“They’re making all the right moves,” one Republican consultant said. “It’s all building to a final crescendo.”

Like this consultant, the folks at California’s Democratic Party headquarters are convinced that Wilson will jump into the presidential fray. And already, party officials say, inquiries from the campaigns of other GOP presidential hopefuls are coming in.

“In anticipation of the ’94 gubernatorial election, we assembled a very complete research binder on Pete Wilson’s 28 years in public office,” said Bob Mulholland, the party’s campaign adviser. “Before long, it may be on loan to the Dole and Gramm campaigns.

“What’s that saying?” Mulholland added. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend?”