Panetta Explores Run for California Governor

Former White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta has launched a brief, intensive exploration of his chances of winning the California governorship, his wife, Sylvia, confirmed this weekend.

Panetta, who represented the Monterey-area congressional district before joining the Clinton administration as budget director in 1993, returned to his home state last January.

His ambitions regarding the governorship were placed on hold until last week, when U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced that she would not run for the post. Panetta found it impossible to get financial or political commitments from key Democrats as long as Feinstein, who led in all the polls, was a possible contender. Now Panetta is asking those same people if they will support him.

With the filing deadline on Feb. 4, Panetta has only a few days to decide. Lt. Gov. Gray Davis and millionaire businessman Al Checchi are already in the race. Panetta would face a challenge in becoming well-known; his old district includes no major media markets and his administration jobs gave him more visibility in Washington than in California.

But a recent court decision knocking down Proposition 208’s severe campaign-contribution limits might make it easier for him to catch up to Davis, who has been a prodigious fund-raiser, if not to Checchi, who has said he will spend “whatever it takes” in his first race.