GOP Hardball in the Political Backwaters

In the backwaters of presidential politics, two realities surfaced over the weekend:

* Gov. Pete Wilson has elbowed aside Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren to become Sen. Bob Dole’s No. 1 man in California.

* There is zero enthusiasm for Dole among California Republican activists. Zilch.

The backwaters were along San Francisco Bay where state Republicans held their winter convention. The timing was lousy, coming on the weekend before the Iowa caucuses. Party officials had hoped to parade the candidates before 2,000 delegates with the lure of a straw poll. But California’s primary won’t be held until March 26 and right now it’s irrelevant. A handful of candidates phoned in perfunctory remarks. Others ignored the convention completely.

The Dole doldrums were seen and heard all weekend, including when results of the mail-in, $25-per-vote straw poll were announced Sunday. Dole won, capturing 36% of the 21,329 ballots; conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan was runner-up at 25%. But when the old warhorse was announced as the victor, delegates responded almost with indifference--some applauding halfheartedly and a few voicing tepid approval.

The activists--many of whom had backed Sen. Phil Gramm and now believe he’s politically terminal--seemed resigned to the probability that Dole ultimately will win the GOP nomination. But they’re still a long way from cheering.

Wilson and Lungren, however, aren’t in this for the cheering.

The governor is trying to keep his political organization intact, perhaps for another presidential race in 2000. He also wants to avoid lame-duck syndrome by using the power to reward and punish.

Lungren, the heir apparent, needs to put together his own team for a 1998 gubernatorial race.

At stake for each is access to millions of presidential campaign dollars and control over coveted delegate badges at the GOP national convention.

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“We’re taking over the Dole campaign,” said one Wilson insider. “No offense to the Lungren folks, but they just don’t have an operation to service a presidential candidate.”

Commented a Dole associate: “Wilson just muscled out good old Dan.”

Another veteran GOP operative said of the Wilson camp: “They’ve got the sharpest elbows in the business.”

But the sparring actually says more about Dole’s national campaign than it does this state’s two top Republican politicians.

Last October, each separately was promised he would be the candidate’s head honcho in California, according to intimates. Dole freely tossed out titles--Lungren was to be “campaign chairman,” Wilson “general chairman” and former Gov. George Deukmejian “honorary chairman.”

Lungren, who had criticized Wilson’s presidential bid, endorsed Dole soon after the governor chucked it in. Then Wilson also latched onto the front-runner. Publicly, the Dole camp maintained that Lungren was No. 1 while it privately winked at Wilson.

Those convention badges--for 163 delegates and 163 alternates--are golden. Dole established a delegate selection committee consisting of Lungren, Wilson, Deukmejian and two others: Lyn Nofziger, a longtime Dole loyalist and former advisor to Ronald Reagan, and Steven A. Merksamer, a veteran California politico and ex-Deukmejian chief of staff.

Recently, the Wilson knives came out. Nofziger has been on the gov’s hit list for reminding us last year, with embellishment, of Wilson’s attacks on Reagan in the 1976 presidential race. Merksamer never has been considered a member of the Wilson team. And there always has been tension between Wilson and Lungren.

*

The politics is this: Dole needs the help of California’s governor--specifically, his organization--to carry the state in November. And it’s even conceivable--if unlikely--that the primary could be crucial.

Wilson used his leverage and extracted concessions. He’ll be No. 1 in California. And a longtime advisor, Marty Wilson (no relation), will be Dole’s state campaign manager. At least the Marty Wilson part--he’s an amiable, seasoned pro--is fine with Lungren.

The governor also got Dole’s promise not to abandon the state, as George Bush did in 1992.

But Lungren winced when Dole granted another Wilson demand: That Nofziger and Merksamer be booted off the delegate committee. (Merksamer remains a national advisor.) Wilson then loaded the panel with his own people, including former Reagan aides George Shultz and Martin Anderson, and businessmen/fund-raisers Gary Hunt of Irvine Co. and Lod Cook of Arco.

Wilson plays rough in the backwaters.