Feinstein--Another Race for Governor?

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is fed up with the partisanship of Washington and is critical of Gov. Pete Wilson’s polarizing in Sacramento. California needs a centrist governor who can work with legislators to help a troubled state, she says. A doer, not a divider.

“This is not the greatest place in the world,” she says of Washington, speaking from her Senate office by telephone. “It’s much more partisan than any place I’ve ever been. People send their representatives here to solve real problems and the partisanship stands in the way.

“If it’s a Democrat budget, Republicans won’t support it. And if it’s a Republican budget, Democrats won’t. . . .”

As for Sacramento, she faults Wilson for “unnecessary polarization of people,” saying: “California is a very diverse state. What I don’t like about Pete’s style is the polarization that has taken place, particularly around illegal immigration and affirmative action. It’s a hard, tough job [being governor]. What you want to do is try to bring people together.”

“At some point,” she continues, Californians “are going to feel the need for a governor who can work across party lines to get something done. People will have had their fill of bickering and name calling and gridlock and inaction. I don’t think the state is there yet, but it will be. The pendulum swings.”

When she was San Francisco’s mayor, Feinstein dealt with a feuding board of supervisors. And she says “there’s a way of working with legislators that’s more collegial [than Wilson’s manner]. You involve them up front in the process so when you send up legislation there’s a modicum of support.

“There are long-term issues that need to be addressed: earthquake safety, education reform, rebuilding an infrastructure, water--simmering problems that divide people north and south, rich and poor, white and nonwhite. You have to develop solutions that aren’t partisan and then the state comes together.

“But that’s for another day. I am not a candidate at this stage.”

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You’d think she was, of course, from the above discourse. But in truth, Feinstein opened up only with reluctance after being prodded. I’d called her because of increasing speculation she might again run for governor in 1998 when Wilson leaves.

That would make sense politically: She barely lost to Wilson in 1990. She was elected easily to the Senate in 1992, then in 1994 survived a national GOP avalanche and a 2 1/2-to-1 spending disadvantage to narrowly win reelection. She’s the Democrats’ best known, most successful prospect and a proven fund-raiser.

And this basically is why she does not even want to think about running again so soon after having competed in three statewide races in four years. “I’ve had enough of campaigning for a while,” she says. Right now, the senator just wants to enjoy the job she fought so hard to win.

“I think she has a mental note to start thinking about it after the November election,” says her top strategist, Bill Carrick.

Says Feinstein: “I probably won’t make any decision until January of ’98.”

The conventional wisdom is that if Democrats recapture the Senate she will be more inclined to stay in Washington. She says there’s a bigger factor: “Once we get past this election, maybe we’ll be able to do public policy back here in a bipartisan way. I want to give it a chance. I like what I’m doing. I now have a six-year term. I think I can be productive.”

Feinstein is pushing antigang, antinarcotic (crank) and victims-rights legislation--”policy measures important to California,” she says. They’re also crime bills that could help her run against the probable GOP gubernatorial nominee, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.

Meanwhile, she recently pleased party activists by publicly opposing the anti-affirmative action initiative on the November ballot.

“She’d be the candidate I’d fear most,” says GOP operative Steve Merksamer, a Lungren backer. “She’s been a good senator. She’s a straight shooter. I’ll never trash her.”

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The spin from the camp of Democratic Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, a definite candidate, is that Feinstein has been around the track too many times, has lost popularity and has a too-liberal image.

“Gray’s people are smoking something strange if they believe that,” Merksamer says. “It’s a combination of wishful and delusional thinking.”

So where does all this leave us?

Feinstein, 62, says she has “very deep feelings” about her native state. She also enjoys being a chief executive. But “probably at this time” she’s “leaning against” the race.

Still, she adds, “I’m not saying I will never run.”

The pressure surely will mount on her to go for it again. She already has the makings of a pretty good stump speech.