A Campaign Spin That Leaves One Dizzy

In all the Bill-Monica hubbub, you may have missed the new Dan Lungren gambit. He’s betting that if you’re disgusted by the president’s lurid sex affair with a White House intern, you’ll really be repulsed by Gray Davis’ 1993 neutrality on NAFTA.

That’s right. And if you believe that Bill Clinton is unfit to be president because he lied about sex to the courts and the American people--and maybe asked others to lie--then you’ll also understand why Lt. Gov. Davis is not fit to be governor. After all, Davis claims to have “fought for” the death penalty when probably all he did, at most, was quietly support it.

Moreover, if you don’t think this president is a good role model for the nation’s youth, how then could you vote for a gubernatorial candidate who won’t “stand up” to labor unions?

Non sequiturs, you say? Pineapples and pine trees?

Atty. Gen. Lungren doesn’t think so. Character is character, he insists--whether you’re talking about seducing young women in the Oval Office or taking a pass on a policy position.

“In truth, ‘character’ and any issue of public policy--even the economy--are inextricably linked together,” Lungren told the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce last week. “Character is about standing up for what you believe in even when the pressure is on, when it’s not an easy decision. . . . That’s the way I’ve lived my public life.”

But trying to link Clinton’s character to Davis’--and a White House crisis to a California gubernatorial campaign--seems a very big stretch.

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Lungren has been running this TV ad stressing the importance of character “from the White House to the schoolhouse.” A reporter asked him whether the ad obliquely refers to the Clinton scandal. “No, it’s not oblique,” he replied.

“Look, we had thought from the very beginning that since there is no huge issue [this year] . . . in the final analysis, people would truly be making judgments about the different characters.”

Anyway, he added, it’s practically impossible to cut through the Clinton clutter; and the president’s sordid behavior has made character a national issue.

“It is important for voters to make a decision as to which candidate they can trust to be the governor--who is going to give them a straight line and stay with it,” Lungren said, “and who is going to be a used car salesman.”

As for Davis, “I would just say this: I didn’t invite the president to come here and campaign for me.”

That’s another non sequitur, of course. Lungren is a Republican and this president backs Democrats.

And since Lungren is getting accusatory about not “standing up” on controversial issues, it should be noted that in 1994 he waited until election eve before finally endorsing Proposition 187, the anti-illegal immigration initiative. Currently, the attorney general is neutral on two big gun control bills on Gov. Pete Wilson’s desk--one aimed at junk handguns and the other at assault weapons.

Also, Lungren has not taken a stand on whether voters should retain two state Supreme Court justices, Ronald George and Ming Chin. The AG strongly objected to their votes overturning a parental consent requirement for a minor’s abortion. This is the same gubernatorial candidate, you’ll recall, who has promised not to make abortion a litmus test in judicial appointments.

Where’s the straight line and who’s the used car salesman?

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To his credit, Lungren long has touted morality and the responsibility of public figures to be role models. When other politicians equivocated as we all tuned into the White House soaps last January, Lungren didn’t mince words:

“To suggest you can be honest in one significant part of your life and be dishonest in another, and that one never affects the other, I don’t find it possible,” he said. “We don’t talk enough about character and virtue. There is a tremendous yearning for spiritual values now.”

Fine. The nation needed a debate on character--especially the character of our leaders--and we’re sure having it. But Lungren went from that to touting his own character, a risky step. As he’s telling people about his core values, some may be hearing self-righteousness.

Now, he’s taking a bigger leap--trying to morph Clinton, character, Davis and public policy all into one neat sketch for voters. Here’s the picture: Davis has been a Clinton loyalist who waffles on tough issues and can’t be trusted.

Nobody I’ve talked to outside the Lungren campaign thinks it will sell.

The public has been learning about a world-class character flaw in the Oval Office. They’re not likely to confuse that with some gubernatorial candidate declining to take a policy position or even changing his mind--whether it’s Davis or Lungren.