'Urban Primary' Aims to Refocus Presidential Race : Politics: So far, the candidates are cool to CityVote, the brainchild of former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran.

By PETER M. WARREN

Oct. 2, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES POLITICAL WRITER

In an age when a pay-to-play straw poll and a national book tour rank as major political events, candidates for the White House are wondering what to make of the latest electoral device: a non-binding “urban primary” later this fall.

Called CityVote, it was conceived by former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran and will pit 20 declared or prospective presidential candidates in balloting that coincides with Nov. 7 local elections in about 20 cities ranging from Moscow, Ida., to Rochester, N.Y. In California, the only participating city is Pasadena.

At the least, the contest could help gauge the potential strength of retired Gen. Colin L. Powell, who is contemplating a presidential run and will appear on the CityVote ballot. For the most part, however, the declared presidential candidates are ignoring CityVote, casting its impact in doubt.

The idea behind the contest was to snatch some limelight from next February’s Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary and, in the process, force White House contenders to focus more on urban problems and less on the concerns of two small states.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who is also on the CityVote ballot, has enthusiastically endorsed the concept and says he will participate in the three televised candidate forums organizers want to hold later this month.

But CityVote needs more than Jackson, who remains uncommitted about a presidential run. To become a force in the presidential selection process, the effort must attract several of the front-line Republican candidates and perhaps a few of the big-name independents too.

So far, few are even nibbling.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said he is considering taking part in the first televised forum, scheduled for Friday in Minneapolis-St. Paul. But Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, the GOP front-runner, and most of his rivals have ruled out active participation in the balloting or the forums. Powell’s office says he is concentrating on his book tour and won’t show up either.

In another blow to CityVote, Don Fowler, head of the Democratic National Committee, recently wrote mayors of the participating cities asking that President Clinton’s name be dropped from the ballot.

That effort has generally been rebuffed. In St. Paul, for instance, the City Council responded by voting unanimously to go ahead with the original concept, which calls for a single ballot that includes virtually all active and plausible presidential contenders unless they declare in writing their intention not to run.

The cities of Boston and Newark also face challenges from state and county officials over the balloting. A similar dispute has already knocked Baltimore out of CityVote earlier this year.

The program’s organizers are undaunted by this host of problems.

“I wouldn’t take this as the last word from Sen. Dole or any of the others,” said Agran, who believes the St. Paul council action “establishes once and for all that we are not going to have further problems with the ballot. These candidates will face a Nov. 7 judgment of the voters like it or not.”

Agran unsuccessfully ran a long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992; that June, he won endorsement for a study of the CityVote program from the National Conference of Mayors.

CityVote’s $500,000 multiyear budget is funded by the Carnegie Corp., the Joyce Foundation, the Merck Family Fund, the Ottinger Foundation, the Schumann Foundation and the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program.

Agran calls the project an important step in improving the presidential selection process.

“I think if CityVote is successful, it will raise anew the question of a national primary or a series of federally structured regional primaries, rather than the haphazard method we have now,” he said.

“It would lead to more likely a one-person, one-vote system, instead of the wildly disproportionate impact given Iowa and New Hampshire.”

It is an article of faith with CityVote organizers that voters participating in the contest will punish candidates who don’t take part in the process, and reward those who have a national urban agenda.

But is there anything for the candidates to fear?

UC Berkeley professor Nelson Polsby, who has studied the electoral process for more than 20 years, calls CityVote a “publicity event” that is unlikely to have any significant effect on the 1996 election.

Dan McLagan, spokesman for Lamar Alexander’s campaign, says people will be able to assess the import of CityVote fairly easily. “If the press is there and the candidates are all there, they will look around and say this is significant. If it’s you and Morry Taylor [a wealthy, relatively unknown businessman seeking the GOP nomination] and an empty room, you will know it is not significant.”

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), a former mayor of Indianapolis who has an urban story to tell, seriously considered taking part in the CityVote forums until recently. But because of responsibilities with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he couldn’t find the time and the money to justify taking part while Congress is in session, said campaign spokesman Terry Holt.

In assessing the response from Republicans, Holt said that in the GOP nomination process, “cities are not playing the strategic role that places like Iowa and New Hampshire play.” It is an unfortunate circumstance for CityVote “that the nomination fight is taking place among Republicans,” he said.

“If there were a Democratic primary, CityVote would be a hotter political ticket,” he said.

Agran agrees, and predicts that four years from now, “there will be a major fight on the Democratic side, and we will be there,” he said.

Today, however, CityVote must confront the fact that most of the big-name candidates are unenthusiastic or opposed to taking part in this year’s run-up to the vote. That could mean the forums might be called off or take place without any major candidates.

“I think you are going to have a party [forum] that no one comes to,” Pasadena City Councilman William E. Thomson said at last week’s council (5meeting, where he expressed skepticism about the city advancing $30,000 to support the balloting, an Oct. 29 forum and a series of related fund-raisers.

Complicating the situation in Pasadena is that CityVote is now alone on the ballot. The originally scheduled local contest was called off when the community college election went uncontested.

In some places, though, officials say CityVote is attracting positive voter and media interest.

“People here feel good about the opportunity for more input than the rest of the state and the region,” said Greenburgh, N.Y. Supervisor Paul Finer. “There is a great frustration by a lot of people that by time the New York primary comes [on March 7], the presidential nomination will be settled.”

Times correspondent Richard Winton contributed to this report.

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Early Vote

CityVote, the brainchild of former Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, will be Nov. 7 in conjunction with local elections in 15 to 20 cities across the United States. The vote will include 21 possible presidential candidates in a non-binding preference contest.

Presidential Preference Ballot

Lamar Alexander, Republican

Bill Bradley, Independent

Harry Browne, Independent (Libertarian Party)

Pat Buchanan, Republican

Bill Clinton, Democrat

Charles Collins, Republican

Bob Dole, Republican

Bob Dornan, Republican

Art Fletcher, Republican

Malcolm (Steve) Forbes, Republican

Phil Gramm, Republican