Good News: The Political Middle Still Holds the Power : Dole landslide is a rejection of Buchanan’s extremism

Among the lessons from Tuesday’s first (and, we hope, last) late March California primary: The Great American Middle, not the fringes, still holds the power. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, romped through the important California primary, trouncing Pat Buchanan, the ideologue who remains the darling of the right despite his spate of primary losses. Buchanan promises to take his losing battle to the convention in San Diego in August. Conventional wisdom says that a showdown would force Dole to cater to the party’s right wing; but a Times exit poll taken Tuesday should push the Dole camp to rethink that assumption.

Dole could face rejection by moderate Republicans in November if he doesn’t articulate a more balanced message, the poll results suggest. His strong primary showing notwithstanding, Dole can’t win without moderate Republicans--or California’s 54 electoral votes.

Turnout will also be a factor. Americans are notoriously apathetic about voting. In Tuesday’s low-profile California primary, only 40% of registered voters bothered to go to the polls. The record-low turnout allowed a fraction of eligible voters to chart the state’s course. In part, blame must be laid at the feet of the earlier March primary in a state that was used to June primary voting. Ironically, the date was moved up by the Legislature in hopes of making the primary of the nation’s most populous state more than an also-ran event. The earlier date still wasn’t early enough to make a difference. The talk about an even earlier primary, or regional primaries, should be encouraged for 2000. And whatever the decision, certainly the state will have to do a better job of getting the word out to voters.

The early primary and low turnout had effects in local races Tuesday; big money alone didn’t hold the usual benefit for candidates. Gil Garcetti, the well-financed but embattled Los Angeles district attorney, faces a runoff against prosecutor John Lynch. In the race for the only open seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Don Knabe found himself in a runoff even though he had the blessing of the retiring incumbent, Deane Dana, his boss. Knabe will face Gordana Swanson, the former mayor of Rolling Hills, who has an uphill battle against the special-interests network that swelled her opponent’s $1.4-million campaign chest.

Political campaigns that cost millions failed to persuade a majority of the voters to approve the “terrible 200s,” complicated and flawed ballot measures that would have imposed no-fault auto insurance and rules that in practice would have hindered small investors in filing lawsuits and individual consumers in retaining lawyers.

As frustrated as the voters understandably are with the state Legislature’s routine refusal to properly address legal reform, the answer is not to push badly constructed reforms by ballot initiative. The answer is to demand that Sacramento legislators do their jobs and, if they fail, fire them at the ballot box.

In a sign that California’s economy is finally moving out from under the weight of the recession--and after years of rejecting most bond measures--a majority of the voters committed the state to greater indebtedness for some very worthy public investments. These voters delivered a victory for students. A majority approved an urgently needed $3-billion bond measure to help build or upgrade facilities for elementary, junior high and secondary schools, community colleges, Cal State and the University of California. Voters also approved $2 billion to strengthen the state’s bridges and highway overpasses against collapse in the next severe earthquake. All Californians will benefit.