Governor Seeks Role as Powerbroker for ’96 : Presidency: Wilson attacks Clinton, Perot in speech to state GOP, and warns candidates not to ignore California.

Barely a day after burying his presidential campaign, Gov. Pete Wilson signaled Saturday that he wants to be a presidential powerbroker now that he is not a candidate.

At the state Republican Party’s semiannual convention, Wilson unleashed a two-fisted assault on President Clinton and the third party ambitions of Texas billionaire Ross Perot.

The governor even issued a challenge to the remaining Republican presidential candidates that they had better pay attention to California’s needs. And perhaps, by extension, Wilson’s own.

Wilson took off the gloves at a luncheon for 950 Republicans who gave him a uniformly warm welcome, a fairly rare occurrence for Wilson in a party that is dominated by conservatives who have never fully trusted the governor.

His attack on Clinton, which aides expect to be a regular part of Wilson’s repertoire in coming months, was clearly meant to cut into the President’s popularity in this state.

Recent California polls have shown that if the 1996 election were held today, Clinton would handily defeat all of the announced Republican candidates. Before a $1-million debt forced his withdrawal, Wilson was running well behind Clinton in hypothetical matchups.

Wilson alleged that Clinton’s beneficence to California--which has included a recent bailout of the Los Angeles County health care system--was merely “cosmetics” meant to dress up a record that has hurt the state.

“We need a President who won’t pretend to secure our border or pretend that he has,” Wilson said. “We need one who will do it.

“We need a President who won’t come to California and try to buy votes by playing Santa Claus with our own tax dollars,” he said. “We need a President who’ll send our tax dollars back to the states for good, not just when he’s shopping for votes.”

The governor accused Clinton of killing tens of thousands of jobs in the state by closing military bases, of “stiffing” the state for the cost of illegal immigration and of using tax money to fight a state lawsuit intended to recoup some of immigration-related losses.

“The man’s a deadbeat!” Wilson declared. “Is that good for California?”

Wilson’s criticism of Perot was more muted, a strategic imperative given that the Texas billionaire competes with Republicans for the allegiance of many voters. But his message was firm: Stay out of the race.

“People are looking for new solutions that preserve old and tested values,” Wilson said. “The answer does not lie, by the way, with a third party.”

He endorsed many of the ideas favored by Perot--a balanced budget, spending cuts and campaign reform--but insisted that those ideas already have found a home.

“Ross Perot should know. There’s already a party with that agenda,” Wilson said. “It’s called the Republican Party.”

Perot raised political eyebrows around the state last week with his announcement that he intends to qualify a third party for the ballot in 50 states, beginning this month in California and two other states.

For Wilson, the weekend marked his return to being governor and titular head of the state Republican Party, and no more the California standard-bearer in the run for the White House. He stuck to his campaign themes of welfare reform, regulatory reform and cutting the size of government, but he was clearly speaking from a different vantage point than before Friday’s surprise announcement.

That was evident at midmorning, when Wilson spoke to about 200 key supporters and offered his word that the Republican nominee would not take the state for granted.

“We have to assure that the Republican nominee understands full well that California is not simply the auto teller,” he said. “We ain’t just the bank, and we’re not simply a place to be courted for votes temporarily. . . . What we need is someone who understands what the state is all about.”

If that echoed with what-could-have-beens, Wilson showed no signs that he missed the presidential contest.

Neither did he offer any apology for seeking the presidency, an act that split the state party into pro- and anti-Wilson factions and prompted a revolt by onetime Wilson supporters who had believed the governor’s 1994 pledge that he would serve his full second term.

Wilson sought subtly to turn criticism on its ear that he had left the state in the lurch to fulfill his personal ambitions. His campaign, he contended, furthered California’s agenda.

“I have no regrets. I got into this campaign not just as a personal quest but to advance the causes we have fought for here in California,” Wilson told the luncheon crowd.

While some of Wilson’s supporters were still emotional Saturday about his withdrawal, Wilson looked like a man distinctly happy to be freed from the crisis-laden last weeks of his presidential effort. The haggard and edgy demeanor that had marked his campaign was replaced by laughter, joking and evident relaxation.

When it was noted that he looked relieved, Wilson smiled broadly: “We got a little more sleep than I’ve been accustomed to” on Friday night, he said.

Wilson dominated the discussion at Saturday’s convention sessions, in part because of the surprise attached to his announcement and in part because party Chairman John Herrington labored to make the weekend a morale-building celebration that was free from the usual internal squabbles.

After Wilson’s second speech Saturday, Herrington underscored that Wilson’s withdrawal will make it far easier for party leaders to mount a unified campaign in 1996.

He acknowledged that Wilson’s decision to run had been a controversial point that engendered strong feelings on both sides. And he appeared relieved that he and other party leaders no longer will have to deal with it.