Planning and Luck Helped Clear GOP Field for Lungren

As Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren holds the ceremonial kickoff for his gubernatorial campaign today, he has already won a major political feat by eliminating significant Republican competition.

How does California’s giant Republican Party produce just a single viable candidate for chief executive of the world’s seventh largest economy--an automatic national political figure?

“I would certainly call this unusual,” said George Gorton, the chief strategist for Pete Wilson in the last two campaigns for governor. “It means a variety of factors have come together.”

One of those factors is that Lungren worked hard for several years to court the many and varied communities in the state party. But some of the other factors are serendipity and luck--not things Lungren could have planned.

Lungren sweated until earlier this month to learn whether Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan or any other top-shelf Republicans might try to foil his dream. But in June, Lungren’s name will appear on the ballot with four other GOP candidates who are not considered enough of a threat to alter the Lungren campaign strategy or preclude the state Republican Party from putting all its muscle behind Lungren now.

“It is an enviable job to clear the field in a congressional race and it is nearly impossible to do it statewide unless you are the incumbent,” said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who is often rumored to be a statewide candidate someday. “Dan Lungren has succeeded, and he has the wind at his back as a result.”

Party leaders say Lungren’s standing as the apparent GOP nominee dates back exactly 10 years, to when he was chosen by then-Gov. George Deukmejian to fill a vacancy in the state treasurer’s office. Lungren’s confirmation was rejected by the Legislature’s Democratic leadership, and Republicans considered it an attempt to block one of their rising stars.

Two years later, in 1990, Lungren ran for attorney general and won his first statewide office.

Preparation for this year’s campaign began about three years ago, just after Lungren’s 1994 reelection, said campaign manager David Puglia. Lungren began an earnest effort then to lock up as much support as possible in the Republican Party.

A year later, he displayed some of that work at a state Republican convention in Palm Desert. In hopes of scaring off possible challengers like former Rep. Michael Huffington, Lungren staged a news conference at which he was endorsed by the past five chairmen of the state Republican Party.

Party insiders say that at least five Republicans besides Riordan are thought to have considered a governor’s campaign this year: Huffington, Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, Secretary of State Bill Jones, state Treasurer Matt Fong and San Diego Mayor Susan Golding.

For Lungren, the luck and timing came last year.

His early preparation put him out front by early 1997 with about $2.6 million in his campaign account. Then a series of developments made a challenge to Lungren more difficult.

Campaign finance restrictions in Proposition 208--passed by voters in November 1996--severely limited the ability of another candidate to raise the money necessary to catch up and compete with Lungren. Last month, a federal judge threw out Proposition 208, but it was too late to help challengers.

At the same time, the prospect of a campaign by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein--which she rejected last month--was unsettling for Republicans as well as Democrats. GOP hopefuls had to consider the possibility of facing such a prominent opponent in the general election.

Meanwhile, Lungren was doing his best to look formidable. And in June--more than a year before the primary--he was endorsed by Gov. Wilson. Most important, Wilson escorted Lungren to a pair of private meetings with the major contributors who have financed his own political career.

Today, Lungren will try once again to display the depth of his support when he holds a ceremonial campaign kickoff in his hometown, Long Beach. This time, the demonstration is directed at the voters who will choose the next governor in November.

“To be honest with you,” said Puglia, “the challenges ahead are the biggest.”