A Day for Experience

Californians Tuesday rejected the notion that a wealthy but unknown political outsider could spend millions of dollars of a personal fortune and win the governorship of the nation’s most populous state. Experience in government, it seems, is not such a bad thing after all.

That the voters would align themselves so solidly with experience in government was something of a surprise. But it was refreshing that they would not buy the message that big success in the business world necessarily translates into effective management of government.

At the same time, Californians seemed to be sending a message that it takes more than a flood of costly television ads--negative or otherwise--to win their votes. Once again, the political wizards seemed to underestimate the savvy of the voters.

Al Checchi, the former Northwest Airlines mogul, spent nearly $40 million over the past two years in attempting to sell himself as a bold executive who could effectively grapple with the major problems facing state government. But exit polling and early returns showed Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, a California pol going back to his days as chief of staff to then-Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr., with an overwhelming lead over both Checchi and Rep. Jane Harman of the South Bay for the Democratic nomination for governor.

On the Republican side, many voters cited Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren’s government experience as a reason for supporting him. Lungren, all but unopposed on the GOP side, along with other candidates received some support from voters from other parties, thanks to California’s new blanket primary that allowed voters to vote for a candidate of any party. And most voters appeared to vote for a candidate simply because they liked him or her best, not for some darker political reason. Party operatives had feared that in a blanket primary, lots of voters might look toward the fall election and purposely vote for the weakest opponent of a favored candidate. Again, voters turned out to be interested not in political high jinks but in serious business.

Harman used millions from her family’s business fortune to mount a late candidacy but failed to articulate a compelling vision of what she hoped to achieve as chief executive.

In many ways, Checchi was an attractive candidate. He campaigned for some of the basic reforms in state government that this newspaper has supported. But his poll figures began to plummet when he ran television ads that were harshly critical of Harman and, to a lesser extent, of Davis. Clearly, the voters were turned off by the negative commercials.

Davis astutely offered himself as the candidate with “experience money can’t buy.” The voters didn’t know many details of his experience, but that didn’t seem to matter when a choice had to be made.