Governor’s Race a Field of 4 as Deadline Passes

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan jumped out and U.S. Rep. Jane Harman jumped into the California governor’s race Wednesday, solidifying a field that will include Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren and millionaire businessman Al Checchi.

Milking the moment, Riordan and Harman both issued their decisions from Washington hours before the deadline for candidates to declare their intent to run for statewide office.

Riordan, making a round of appearances in the nation’s capital, struggled all day to explain his decision. He said he does not aspire to hold higher office, is content with his career and life in Los Angeles and wants to have influence over education policy in the city. Ultimately, he agreed that he does not have the “fire in the belly” necessary to make a strong bid.

“It was a hard decision, it was a lonely decision,” he said. “But it’s a decision I feel good about.”

As Riordan, a moderate Republican, was bowing out, Torrance congresswoman Harman was trying to lay claim to the centrist mantle among Democrats. She made her announcement via a conference call with California political reporters.

In a highly unusual move, however, she declined to answer questions about her views on issues and on how she differs from the other Democrats. She would only repeat her support for the mom-and-apple-pie issue of this election--improving the education system--and for holding fast on the right to abortion.

Twice, she turned back questions with the same mantra: “I bring truly relevant experience, an informed vision for the state and a lifetime of commitment to principles, including the right to choose.”

She said she would be more forthcoming at a future campaign kickoff. “I will, when I [formally] announce, be very specific about my views,” she said.

Elsewhere, candidates for state offices spent the day streaming to the county registrar and secretary of state’s offices to file their intentions to run for office. Wednesday’s deadline was the first of two for candidates, who also must file candidacy declarations and nomination papers by March 6.

The intent statements are, in effect, the formal green flag for campaigning, although in most races the efforts began in earnest months or even years ago. The June 2 primary will decide major party nominations for eight statewide offices, 80 Assembly seats, 20 Senate seats and a host of judicial posts.

Also up for grabs will be nominations to congressional and U.S. Senate seats. In California, Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer will seek a second term in the Senate. She is being challenged by a trio of Republicans--businessman Darrell Issa, state Treasurer Matt Fong and U.S. Rep. Frank Riggs of Windsor. No other major entrants appear to be waiting in the wings, although the deadline for filing in federal races is not until March 6.

Gov. Pete Wilson’s forced departure from the governor’s office, due to term limits, has set up a highly competitive contest, one that has been measured this year as much by the candidates who flirted with the race as those who decided to commit.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein froze the race for months as she pondered whether to run, finally backing out a mere two weeks before the deadline. Her late departure hurt the chances of other potential entrants, particularly Leon Panetta, the former California congressman and Clinton White House chief of staff who backed out of the race on Monday.

The latest name thrown into the mix was Riordan’s, which surfaced after Feinstein backers anxious to ride a new horse began calling the mayor and pleading for his entrance.

Harman took great pains to seek Feinstein’s imprimatur Wednesday, and said that the senator’s decision not to run was the biggest factor prompting her decision. “I wasn’t my first candidate for this race--she was,” Harman said of Feinstein.

Although she did not address it in her remarks, political analysts said Harman clearly is seeking to capitalize on the Democratic Party’s demographic tilt toward women, who are almost 60% of the party’s voters.

She hopes to draw votes away from both male candidates, the analysts said, luring women and traditional activists from Davis as well as moderates and, potentially, Republicans and independents from Checchi.

But Harman is little-known in California outside her South Bay district. Even though she can afford to spend millions of her own money on the campaign, she faces formidable competition.

Checchi, according to newly released financial documents, had spent an extraordinary $7.25 million by the end of December, already within shooting distance of the $9 million primary spending record set by Kathleen Brown’s gubernatorial campaign in 1994.

Davis, in contrast, spent slightly more than the $871,379 he raised in the last six months, but he has $4 million in the bank from earlier races and has cornered much of the party’s institutional support.

Political strategists for Checchi and Davis said they doubt that Harman will have the same pull with women as the party’s two previous nominees, Brown and Feinstein. Both were much better known statewide than Harman at earlier points in their campaigns. And both were running in years when women’s involvement in politics was a key political issue.

Davis strategist Garry South pointed to the travails of state Controller Kathleen Connell, who considered a governor’s bid yet found it impossible to climb in the polls and surpass the male candidates.

“I don’t think there is an automatic benefit conferred on a woman,” he said.

On the Republican side, Wednesday brought Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren the official word he had sought for months: With Riordan out, Lungren gets a virtual free ride in the primary, although he will have to contend with Democrats seeking to poach Republican voters.

Lungren issued a statement that praised Riordan’s performance as mayor and paid homage to his pet cause of education--and subtly tweaked Riordan over his highly public, highly theatrical ruminations.

“I have always taken the mayor as a man of his word,” Lungren said, recalling how a year or so ago Riordan swore off the governor’s race and pledged his allegiance to Lungren. “I respect his leadership. . . . We share a great concern that our state must address its inadequate education system and I will be seeking his input in the immediate future.”

The other statewide races feature a wide range of ideology among the major party candidates and also underscore the impact of term limits on the political landscape.

The race for lieutenant governor, the office to be vacated by Davis, will pit one of three Republicans against one of two Democrats. On the Democratic side, Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante of Fresno, who is being ousted by term limits, will run against former deputy Secretary of State Tony Miller, who unsuccessfully ran for secretary of state in 1994.

Republicans will choose from state Sen. Tim Leslie of Carnelian Bay, his colleague Richard Mountjoy of Arcadia and businesswoman Noel Irwin-Hentschel of West Los Angeles, who is making her first bid for elective office.

Lungren’s gubernatorial bid has opened the door to a fierce, two-sided battle for attorney general. The Republican nomination is the subject of an already contentious fight between Orange County Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi and Dave Stirling, who is on leave from his job as Lungren’s chief deputy. Democrats include state Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer of Hayward, who is being forced out by term limits, his upper house colleague Charles M. Calderon of Whittier and former San Diego congresswoman Lynn Shenk.

Another seat left open by a desire for upward mobility is state treasurer, whose incumbent Fong is running for U.S. Senate. The only major Democrat running is former state party Chairman Phil Angelides, a Sacramento developer. Republicans include former Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle of Garden Grove and Assemblyman Jan Goldsmith of Poway.

San Mateo County Supervisor Ruben Barrales had planned to run for treasurer until Pringle’s entrance, but he then shifted to the state controller’s race. Barrales, the first Latino to run on the statewide Republican ticket, is up against incumbent Kathleen Connell.

Along with Connell’s race, three others will feature incumbents trying to return to office. Republican Secretary of State Bill Jones of Fresno is running for reelection, challenged by Michaela Alioto of Rutherford, an heir to the San Francisco-based political dynasty.

Delaine Eastin, a Democrat, is running for reelection as state superintendent of public instruction. Considering a race against her is Republican Gloria Matta Tuchman, a Santa Ana schoolteacher. Tuchman moved onto the political stage recently by taking a high-profile role in support of an upcoming initiative that would essentially outlaw bilingual education.

Republican Chuck Quackenbush is running for a second term as state insurance commissioner. Democrats contesting him are Hal Brown, a Marin County supervisor, and Assemblywoman Diane Martinez of Monterey Park.

Times political writer Mark Z. Barabak and Times staff writer Jim Newton contributed to this story.

* RIORDAN’S REASONS: The mayor decided he just didn’t want to be governor. B1

* THE SPIN: Jane Harman has won elections by running to the middle. B1

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Four Choices for Governor

WHO’S IN

Rep. Jane Harman, a Democrat, entered the race Wednesday, joining Republican Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, and Democrats Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, and businessman Al Checchi.

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WHO’S NOT

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, left, was the latest high-profile politician to consider a run to replace Pete Wilson as governor, but ultimately deciding against it. The others were, clockwise at right, former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, State Sen. John Vasconcellos and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

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OTHER RACES

* Wednesday was also the deadline for other statewide offices, including lieutenant governor, attorney general and state treasurer.

* The deadline to file for U.S. senator from California is March 6.