Former L.A. Lawyer Emerson to Run Clinton Campaign in State

White House aide John Emerson, a former Los Angeles lawyer with extensive experience in California politics, will manage President Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign in the state, Democratic Party sources said Tuesday.

Emerson, 41, headed Clinton’s 1992 campaign in California, which the Democratic ticket carried by 13 percentage points over then-President George Bush. That was one of Clinton’s largest winning margins, in part because the Bush campaign had decided its chances of carrying the state were slim and focused its efforts elsewhere.

Next year, a much more competitive race is expected for California’s 54 electoral votes. Indeed, the state looms especially large for the President--given Clinton’s poor poll ratings virtually throughout the South, most political analysts believe it would be impossible for him to amass the 270 electoral votes needed for reelection without carrying California.

State Democratic Party Chairman Bill Press disclosed Tuesday that Emerson was chosen several weeks ago to again run the California operation. Although there has been no official announcement, Press said Emerson’s selection “has been no secret.”

Press flew to Washington on Tuesday for meetings with Emerson, White House Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta and Clinton. The topics would include the California campaign, he said.

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Emerson, contacted at his White House office, acknowledged there are “expectations” he will fill the California role. But he insisted no official appointment has been made for the post. Emerson noted that Clinton has not yet named a national campaign manager.

Emerson joined the Clinton Administration in early 1993 as deputy White House personnel chief. Currently, he is listed as an assistant to the President for intergovernmental relations; in that job, his primary role has been to serve as Clinton’s emissary to California.

Emerson was deputy national campaign manager for Gary Hart’s 1986-87 presidential campaign and California director of the Hart campaign in 1984. He sought a state Assembly seat in the Silver Lake-Echo Park area in 1991 as one of 15 candidates in a special election, but he narrowly lost the Democratic nomination.

Before signing up with the White House, Emerson served as the chief deputy to Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn.

Also Tuesday, it was learned that Manhattan lawyers Susan Thomases and Victor Kovner have been put in charge of Clinton’s New York reelection campaign. Thomases is a close friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton and a former Clinton campaign aide.

Times wire services contributed to this story.