Wilson Jockeys for Conscience of Conservatives

Stepping into a national arena where critics portray him as a soft-sided liberal, Gov. Pete Wilson appealed this weekend to the conservative Arizona voters who could be crucial to his presidential campaign, launching a spirited condemnation of the federal Endangered Species Act.

“In California we have a thing called the fairy shrimp,” Wilson told about 300 GOP activists Friday night. “You can find the damn thing in every puddle and drainage ditch in 27 counties, so I’m not sure how endangered it can be.

“But it prevents grazing, it prevents mining, it prevents tilling the soil--it prevents any kind of development. Why? Because it is part of the food chain. Fool that I am, I thought the California farmer was part of the food chain.”

At home, many Californians stopped referring to Wilson as a political moderate when his 1994 campaign against benefits for illegal immigrants was criticized as heartless and again this year when he joined the effort to abolish affirmative action programs.

But elsewhere, in states where voters are just learning about the California governor, Wilson has been forced to defend his support for gun control, gay rights, abortion rights and a 1992 tax increase.

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When he came to Arizona, which will have one of the nation’s earliest primaries, Wilson was asked if a moderate could win the Republican nomination.

“You know what a moderate is?” he told reporters. “I finally discovered it. A moderate is a conservative who is pro-choice--like Barry Goldwater,” the former Arizona senator and GOP presidential candidate. “I not only think one can win, I intend to.”

Wilson’s visit this weekend combined a personal trip to his wife’s family and a campaign mission to learn whether rival GOP candidate Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) has a lock on Arizona’s voters--as Gramm has tried to demonstrate.

Arizona Sen. John McCain has helped Gramm win the support of almost all of the statewide Republican lawmakers. Wilson met Saturday with Barry Goldwater Jr., the son of the 1964 Republican presidential candidate and a GOP icon whose support could be a big boost for the governor.

Gramm’s efforts notwithstanding, Wilson must have been encouraged by the warm reception he received Friday when he gave the keynote speech at the state party’s annual Trunk and Tusk dinner.

In his first public address to a Republican audience since announcing March 23 that he is exploring a presidential campaign, Wilson was greeted with applause and two standing ovations. GOP speakers also trumpeted Wilson as one of the nation’s best governors and a welcome addition to the 1996 presidential field.

“This is not a pro forma introduction, because I am speaking from the heart,” said Gov. Fife Symington, who has endorsed Gramm. “Today, Pete Wilson is standing tall as the leader of the most populous state in the country and, my friends, our Republican Party is fortunate to have a man of this stature seek the highest office in this land.”

Wilson delivered his speech about welfare reform, smaller government and crime-fighting with humor and a confident poise--not always the case for a governor regarded by many political observers as more than a bit boring. His remarks also struck a chord with many in the audience, winning an early promise from several that they will seriously consider his candidacy.

“He gave a terrific speech, and he hit on a lot of the points that people in this country want corrected,” said Matthew Ustas of Tucson. “I think Pete Wilson would be up near the top of my list.”

Arizona triggered a controversy earlier this year when it scheduled its presidential primary on the same day as New Hampshire’s, which has jealously guarded its tradition as the nation’s first primary state. After a hostile exchange, Arizona officials agreed to change their voting to Feb. 27, a week after New Hampshire. A final decision on the switch by state Republican leaders and legislators is expected this week.

As a result, Republican campaign navigators are giving serious attention to Arizona’s primary, particularly as a possible showdown between Wilson and Gramm.

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Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), the consensus front-runner of the GOP field, has not yet indicated whether he will wage a major effort to win the Arizona primary. Three other GOP candidates--former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter and commentator Patrick J. Buchanan--have also visited the state to test their chances.

Gramm’s Arizona support was so extensive that he was forced earlier this year to disassociate himself from the state’s effort to change its primary date when New Hampshire officials charged that it was an orchestrated attempt to boost his campaign.

Still, some Arizona political observers said Wilson could have a shot at winning the state if voting is conducted in a primary--a move the Legislature is expected to approve. They said Gramm’s organizational advantage would be more effective if voting was done in caucus or by a convention.

“Gramm has done an extremely good job of lining up political activists and insiders in the Republican Party and, definitely on that front, he has a dramatic lead over anybody,” said Phoenix Republican consultant Robert Robb. “But if it is a primary, then I believe it’s wide open.”

Arizona could be important for Wilson because it comes early in the string of presidential primaries and caucuses, and it is a California neighbor. The governor’s strategists are convinced that Wilson could do well in a place where many of the issues he has promoted recently are at the top of the local agenda.

Arizona’s Legislature is wrestling with some of the same welfare reform proposals that Wilson has offered in California. There is also an effort under way to qualify a measure for next year’s ballot similar to California’s Proposition 187, the Wilson-promoted plan that would deny most public services to illegal immigrants.

Wilson also said during the Arizona swing that, as President, he would sign the controversial federal tax cut passed this week by the House. The governor said the tax reduction could be accommodated without adversely affecting the federal budget deficit if Congress made the proper spending cuts.

Cutting taxes has become a central part of Wilson’s campaign speech, fitting into his overall theme of reforms to let “America be all that it can be.” But the issue has also been prickly because it forces him to explain why he supported a major tax increase as governor in 1992.

In Arizona, Symington campaigned for reelection last year by noting that he cut taxes and the state’s economy improved, while California raised taxes and suffered an economic slump.

Asked whether a governor who has raised taxes can win the Republican nomination, Wilson responded: “You bet he can. Because he was also the governor who has done something that Washington has never had the guts to do: . . . (make) deep cuts” in spending.

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Before Friday, Wilson’s presidential campaign had been conducted largely in private meetings and a handful of press conferences. The campaign is still in its early stages and aides are reportedly searching for prominent consultants for the strategy team.

Wilson officials also said it was too soon to discuss their plans for an Arizona campaign.

“We’re not ready to turn our playbook over to Bob Dole quite yet, but it is a state in which we believe Pete Wilson can run very strongly,” said Wilson spokesman Dan Schnur.