Mastery of Her Microcosm Gives Harman a Hidden Strength

Promptly at 1 p.m. Wednesday, I dialed (888) 422-7128 to hear Rep. Jane Harman’s telephonic press conference opening her gubernatorial campaign--and waited.

And waited. So did other impatient California reporters on the western end. It wasn’t until several minutes later that Harman, in Washington, turned up.

Then, raising the reportorial outrage level even further, she cut off questioning after about 10 minutes. “This is ridiculous!” yelled one reporter. “Put her back on the line!” shouted another to a Harman aide. Wisely, the congresswoman resumed the press conference.

But I know better than to write Harman off on the basis of a shaky opening day.

I thought back to the late summer and fall of 1996, when I followed Harman in her South Bay district.

Maybe she doesn’t know much about statewide campaigning and maybe she’s just about zero in the public opinion polls. Harman, however, has an experience the other candidates lack--fighting and winning victories in a congressional district that is a microcosm of the new California.

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That demographic similarity to the California electorate is why I started writing about Harman and the 36th Congressional District.

For me, it was a way of chronicling the 1996 election from the grass roots, free from the heavy hype and spin-doctoring of a presidential campaign. Harman and her Republican opponent, Susan Brooks, were as accessible as next-door neighbors. Their aides were young, friendly and willing to talk. So were the voters.

The district stretches from funky Venice through the South Bay beach cities and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. It also includes the inland community of Torrance.

It is largely suburban, with residents ranging from working class to wealthy. Registration is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats and, ideologically, the voters are solidly in the middle. The middle was the ground Harman occupied in her 1996 victory over Brooks and where she will undoubtedly run in the governor’s election.

Harman is a disciplined, focused campaigner who works hard and expects her staff to do the same. She is a powerful fund-raiser who has successfully courted major aerospace, defense and high-tech firms. She also has plenty of money of her own and it too is a product of the new California. Her husband is Sidney Harman, a wealthy audio equipment manufacturer.

Despite her hard-driving personality, Harman has a homey but skilled speaking style that goes over well with suburban audiences. She works hard to provide services to the mayors, city managers and council members who run her district’s many small cities.

Harman’s campaign in ’96 could serve as a clinic on how to win elections in California suburbia.

She was firmly in favor of abortion rights, which was in tune with the attitudes of her constituents, and the California electorate. And, in common with suburban voters, Harman supported a federal waiting period on gun purchases--a stand that sharply separated her from Brooks, her Republican foe.

Harman also showed a taste for uninhibited attack. At debates she linked Brooks with House Speaker Newt Gingrich so often that Brooks finally protested, “My name is not Newt Gingrich. Here is my driver’s license. I am Susan Brooks.”

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As Harman admitted during her press conference Wednesday, her “lack of name recognition is a daunting challenge.” In California, epicenter of political apathy, members of Congress count themselves lucky if their own constituents know them.

Harman is probably better known than most. In tending to the concerns of Redondo Beach, Torrance, the Los Angeles International Airport area and other parts of her district, Harman proved herself a master of the constituent services that make for a successful congressional career.

Her new venture is much more difficult. Opponents will spend millions to knock her down if she rises in the polls. Reporters who don’t know her will have to be convinced of her seriousness.

A victory would be the upset of the year, but not out of reach for someone who has mastered the complex new politics of the South Bay.