Prop. 227 to End Bilingual Ed Wins; Union Measure Losing

In the most expensive statewide race in American history, California Lt. Gov. Gray Davis defied his party’s formerly half-hearted embrace and brushed aside two free-spending millionaires to sweep to the Democratic nomination for governor Tuesday.

His victory, setting up a November contest with Republican Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, came as voters were defeating nationally watched Proposition 226, which would have gutted the political influence of organized labor.

The battle for the Republican nomination to oppose Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer was tight throughout the night, but state Treasurer Matt Fong began extending his lead over businessman Darrell Issa as the night wore on. And another nationally watched initiative, Proposition 227, which would essentially end bilingual education in the state’s schools, was winning comfortably.

The election was the first test of California’s blanket primary, by which voters cast their ballots for any of the candidates, regardless of their party. But there were no early indications that it dramatically heightened voter interest.

For the 55-year-old Davis, an unyielding campaigner who braved months of open suggestions that he leave the race to make way for a more winning candidate, his convincing victory placed him one step closer to the office he has sought since he served a generation ago as chief of staff to former Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr.

“California, today you defied the experts, you proved the pundits wrong and you know what? I think we’re going to win again in November,” Davis, smiling broadly, told a celebratory crowd at the Regal Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He added that both of his Democratic opponents, businessman Al Checchi and Rep. Jane Harman of Torrance, had called him to pledge their support. Checchi later joined Davis on stage, and urged his supporters to “work as hard for him as you did for me.”

Davis benefited from a strong turnout among traditional Democrats and a sense of relative contentment in California, which crushed the hopes of outsider candidates like Checchi.

Checchi spent $40 million of his own money--more than has ever been spent for a primary and general election anywhere--to challenge Davis. Yet he and Harman, who spent about $15 million, were running far behind Davis.

Davis spent about $9 million, tying the previous record for a gubernatorial primary but far below his competitors’ spending. In the end, his message that he had the necessary experience to sit in the governor’s office took hold with voters.

Light Support for Lungren

Lungren’s standing--he was about even with Davis among voters Tuesday--was more than slightly embarrassing for a candidate without opposition within his party. He spent the campaign on the high road, watching the Democratic candidates squabble and snipe with an amused detachment--one that ended Tuesday night. He renewed his challenge to Davis to “make sure we have a campaign that’s based on the issues.”

And, with good-hearted combativeness, he added: “To my opponent. . . . If you think we concede one block, one neighborhood, one town--you are wrong!”

In the Senate race, Fong said late Tuesday that he was confident of facing Boxer in the fall. A subdued Issa did not immediately concede, but blamed his showing on a “hit piece” by Boxer.

Boxer couched her victory in challenger’s terms.

“I’m the only candidate in the Senate who is not afraid to take on the National Rifle Assn., to take on the bad HMOs, to take on the oil companies, to take on the polluters and those who would outlaw a woman’s right to choose,” said Boxer, who is seeking her second term.

Like the governor’s race, the story of the initiatives was to some extent money, particularly Proposition 226, which would have required unions to get the individual permission of their members before using dues for political donations. The measure was leading handily until a recent $20-million swarm of critical television ads turned supporters against it.

A direct comparison of the impact of money came with Proposition 227, which would end the state’s current mishmash of bilingual programs and allow non-English-speaking students only one year of English immersion. The measure was leading strongly in early returns and exit polls predicted its victory, which at least in part was made possible because opponents did not spend huge sums of money to defeat it.

A third ballot initiative, Proposition 223, which required that 95% of all school district funds be spent in the classroom, was losing in early returns.

In the hardest-fought of the other statewide races, the contest to replace Lungren as attorney general, the incumbent’s former chief deputy Dave Stirling was leading Orange County Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi. On the Democratic side, state Sen. Bill Lockyer of Hayward was running strongly against state Sen. Charles Calderon of Los Angeles and former U.S. Rep. Lynn Schenk of San Diego.

The Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor seemed safely in the hands of former Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante of Fresno, who appeared to defeat former Deputy Secretary of State Tony Miller. Among the Republicans, state Sen. Tim Leslie of Carnelian Bay held an early lead over his colleague Richard Mountjoy of Arcadia and businesswoman Noel Irwin Hentschel of Los Angeles.

In the third open statewide seat, the treasurer’s post now held by Fong, Republican Assemblyman Curt Pringle of Orange County was leading over his house colleague Jan Goldsmith of Poway. Former state party Chairman Phil Angelides was leading among Democrats.

In the other four races, incumbents easily carried the day. Secretary of State Bill Jones was the only candidate from his party, and he will meet the sole Democrat, Michela Alioto of St. Helena in November. Controller Kathleen Connell, a Democrat, will face off against San Mateo County Supervisor Ruben Barrales--they were the only major party candidates on the ballot.

Republican Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush was guaranteed a spot on the November ballot. Among the Democrats, Assemblywoman Diane Martinez of Los Angeles was leading over San Mateo County Supervisor Hal Brown.

And in the nonpartisan contest for superintendent of public instruction, incumbent Delaine Eastin was moving toward a general election contest against Santa Ana teacher Gloria Matta Tuchman.

Open Primary Adopted in 1996

The historic nature of Tuesday’s election was clear as early as March 1996, when voters approved the initiative that tossed out separate primaries for each party and allowed voters to cast ballots for the candidate of their choice. It opened the door to independents previously denied access to primaries and greatly broadened the choice for other voters. In the governor’s race alone, voters could cast ballots for one of 17 candidates representing seven political parties.

But it was the copiousness of money, not the style of the primary, that put the election in the record books.

Millionaires dotted the ballot--Checchi and Harman running for governor, Issa for U.S. Senate, Irwin Hentschel for lieutenant governor, Angelides for treasurer. And each spent what they had to.

Checchi, by far, was the most profligate. He spent more money more lavishly than anyone else before in American politics, excluding the taxpayer-funded presidential campaigns.

By the end of 1997, he had almost broken the spending record for a primary--with six months to go. By election day, he had soared past the $40-million mark--more than four times the previous record of $9 million in primary spending, set in 1994 by Democrat Kathleen Brown.

And he eclipsed the national non-presidential record for any race, the $29 million spent by Republican Michael Huffington--in both the primary and general election--in his unsuccessful bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 1994.

Most of Checchi’s money was spent on television advertising. His first ads aired in November, seven months before the primary and a good two months before the earliest previous ad inauguration.

The race for governor also drew national attention for its distinctive political coloration. The stakes were great, for the next governor will preside over the redrawing of the state’s political boundaries, which historically produces a titanic struggle between Republicans and Democrats.

And the candidates fulfilled every political archetype, even after some better-known candidates, such as Feinstein and Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, took themselves out of the race.

Candidates and Their Advertising

For most of the spring, voters appeared to be searching for a connection with the candidates; those in the race ebbed and flowed in popularity in direct relation with their advertising, as though voters were entranced by each new entrant until a newer one came along to catch their fancy.

There was Lungren, the sole major Republican, the solid conservative who worked his way up the electoral ladder with the crime issue as his crutch, much in the same mold as the previous and current governors, Republicans George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson.

And Davis, the relentless, one foot in front of the other campaigner who set his sights on the governor’s office a generation ago and worked steadfastly toward his goal.

There was Checchi, the multimillionaire outsider with a lifetime yen for politics who, on the strength of his own bank account, transformed himself into a player and then discovered that in politics wealth is a double-edged sword.

And Harman, who entered the race suddenly after Feinstein demurred, hoping with the help of her husband’s money to become the third woman in a row to win the Democratic nomination, but finding that the environment was far tougher this time around.

Davis has sought the office the longest; most of his adult life has been spent in the solitary pursuit of a governorship for which he apprenticed under Brown, a man whose public persona could not be further from Davis’.

He moved from Brown’s office to the state Assembly, then to the state controller’s office and finally one chair down from the governor, in a series of stairsteps that got him ever closer to his goal.

Along the way, he used his massive donor list to crush his opponents, and spent much of his time in office ginning up attention for the next campaign. It was thus ironic that by the time Davis formally entered the governor race, he was up against two multimillionaires able to pummel him with ads just by writing a check.

“I know two things,” he said at his March announcement. “First, your vote is not for sale. And second, I offer the voters a wealth of experience that money can’t buy.”

The latter phrase, indeed, became the ending line of all of Davis’ ads.

Had Davis not been in the race, Checchi would have had to invent him. Davis was essentially what Checchi sought the race to fight against--the entrenched political veteran who depended on special interest money and, in Checchi’s mind, was cautious as a result.

Checchi began thinking about the race early in 1996, and by the end of that year announced his plans to “consider” a bid. In truth, he was all but decided.

“My experience outside politics is precisely why I’m running,” said Checchi in his announcement. “You don’t have to be a politician to succeed in government. And the truth is that for too long, politicians leading our government have failed.”

Once he began running negative ads this spring, however, Checchi began spiraling downward. Analysts suggested that voters were treating him particularly harshly because he had pledged to be different from the politicians--and in the end ran a campaign much like a textbook insider’s effort.

Harman entered the race late and, for much of it, appeared to be a niche candidate searching unsuccessfully for her niche. She was optimistic, from beginning to end, that women in particular would be taken by her candidacy. She often wrapped her comments with allusions to her four children and what she defined as a female style of leadership.

“I am the only one running who has a combination of private sector and public sector experience, and I have a style of leadership which I have demonstrated in the Congress which builds coalitions and gets things done,” she said.

But polls showed that women, and voters overall, did not fall into line.

Amid the contentiousness of the Democratic struggle, Lungren stood alone as the putative Republican nominee. To consolidate support among Republican voters, and to appeal to any Democrats put off by the nastiness on their side of the aisle, Lungren began running flowery ads about himself in the spring.

The contests for the other major matters on the ballot ripened late this spring, and in the case of the down-ballot state races, never really reached the full-throated stage.

GOP Senate Race Slowly Escalated

The two major Republicans vying for the Republican Senate nomination against Boxer competed in relatively tame fashion until the final month or two, when Fong began slamming Issa’s businessman background and Issa derided Fong as a second-generation political veteran, and an uninspired one at that. Each tried to cast himself as the true conservative in the race, knowing that despite the new primary system the state’s predictably conservative GOP voters would call the race.

Boxer, content to let her opponents hammer each other, sped around the state on Senate breaks and raised money for the clash in the fall but made little news throughout the year.

The loudest initiative battle came over Proposition 226, the measure to gut the political power of union members. It was winning in voter surveys for months, until opponents mounted the advertising blitz that pulled the measure into a draw in the weeks before the election.

That measure reverberated around the nation as politicians on both sides in other states saw California as the leading edge of an anti-union drive.

Also reverberating, but not nearly to the extent that once appeared destined, was the anti-bilingual education measure, Proposition 227. Months ago, pundits predicted that it would be the third consecutive racially divisive measure on California’s ballots, after a 1994 measure scrapping benefits for illegal immigrants and a 1996 measure that outlawed affirmative action in state-supported arenas.

But all four major candidates for governor--the three Democrats and Republican Lungren--came out against it.

Election News Inside

* SHERIFF’S RACE: Incumbent Sherman Block was headed for a runoff with Lee Baca. A3

* FOR CONGRESS: GOP Rep. Jay Kim lost; Robert K. Dornan led in his comeback try. A3

* A NEW WORLD: Voters seem to take to the blanket ballot, despite its plethora of names. A3

* MIKE DOWNEY: A candidate rallies, money flows, and barbs are hurled. What a primary. A3

* OAKLAND RACE: Former Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr. led in Oakland mayor’s race. A25

* ELECTION TABLES: A20-22