WASHINGTON INSIGHT

MODERATE TROUBLE: As hard as Gov. Pete Wilson leans to the right on taxes, immigration crime and affirmative action, he is still struggling to gain acceptance among GOP conservatives, whose hostility could wreck his presidential candidacy. The latest evidence comes from a recent private dinner of conservative activists and journalists where House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) vented his anger at unnamed conservatives for trying to use affirmative action as a “wedge issue,” striving to divide Democrats without offering solutions for the nation’s underlying racial problems. “Which conservatives do you mean?” challenged David A. Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union. “Pete Wilson,” Gingrich replied. “Newt,” Keene shot back, “you’re the only one here who thinks Wilson is a conservative.”

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STAR SEARCH: The White House’s long-running search to find a top campaign-related job for U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor is stirring talk about vaulting Kantor into a surprising job: White House chief of staff. The job is already filled, of course, by another Californian, Leon E. Panetta, and insiders predict the talk will come to nothing. But it reflects President Clinton’s intense desire to surround himself with proven performers as he begins the reelection walk through fire. Some predict Kantor may yet end up chairman of the reelection effort, but Kantor, who yearned for the chief of staff post in 1992, has no taste for the lesser campaign job. Clinton’s other big personnel push: To hold on to Erskine Bowles, the millionaire businessman-deputy chief of staff, who has announced plans to leave White House employ to get back to his family in North Carolina. Clinton values Bowles’ serene efficiency; a colleague describes him as “one of the few here who people here would willingly jump off a cliff for.”

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IOWA BECKONS: Political professionals discount the significance of most party straw polls, noting that the small, doctrinaire audiences they tend to attract make them notoriously unreliable barometers of candidate support. Thus, many presidential candidates ignore the events. Except, that is, when Iowa is a straw poll’s setting. With the state’s February caucuses looming as the first major contest of the 1996 campaign, every major Republican presidential contender is planning to personally bid for support at an Aug. 19 straw poll in Ames. State GOP officials are doing their part to hype the vote, billing it as “Caucus Kickoff ’96.” And as an extra added attraction, they’ve announced a special “master of ceremonies” for the gathering--former Vice President Dan Quayle.

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BIG BIRD BECKONS: After spending a two-year tour in the White House political shop as the California liaison, Tom Epstein is departing to become communications and public relations director for the Public Broadcasting Service in September. The former California deputy insurance commissioner was named a special presidential assistant for political affairs as the Clinton-Gore team arrived in Washington in early 1993. One of three such political aides, Epstein served as the Administration’s eyes and ears for California issues and helped arrange presidential itineraries during Clinton’s numerous visits to the state. The office plans to assign another person to handle California issues, a spokesman said. Epstein, a UCLA graduate, explained the move to his 3-year-old daughter this way: “I’m working on Sesame Street instead of Pennsylvania Avenue.”