Feinstein Calls for Action on Social Ills

Without so much as a mention of her Republican rivals, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein challenged fellow California Democrats on Saturday to seize the nation’s economic boom to improve public schools, guarantee health care and attack poverty.

“Yes, we have an opportunity now, for the first time, to solve some of these . . . problems that plague our society,” Feinstein said in an address to the state Democratic Party convention here. “And nowhere are those structural problems more evident than they are in California.”

In what amounted to the kickoff of her reelection campaign, Feinstein trumpeted her work on gun control and abortion rights--two areas where she agrees with her most likely GOP challenger, Rep. Tom Campbell of San Jose.

Asked afterward why she had touched on their common ground, Feinstein said she did not know Campbell’s views on guns and abortion. “I haven’t looked at his voting record” on those subjects, she said. “We will, when the time comes.”

Virtually unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the March 7 primary and far ahead in opinion polls of any of the Republican contenders, Feinstein has not even decided whether to run pre-primary television commercials, advisors said.

Campbell’s campaign aides said he will launch his first television ad this week--a short spot introducing him to California voters.

It is unclear whether the other main Republican candidates--Riverside state Sen. Ray Haynes and San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn, who have raised far less money than Campbell--can afford television time.

The convention drew almost 3,000 participants, twice the turnout at last weekend’s GOP convention in nearby Burlingame. Many in the crowd appeared younger than 30, reflecting in part the Democrats’ inroads in recent years with college-age youths--the party’s fastest-growing group.

Outside the convention hall Saturday was the party’s trademark collection of left-wing protesters, staging low-key demonstrations against the death penalty and nuclear energy and for environmental protection and abortion rights.

Inside, buoyant conventioneers lambasted former GOP Gov. Pete Wilson, whose term ended last year, and others. Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew quipped: “We should thank them for taking their party so far to the right that they are going to fall off what they still think is a flat Earth.”

Against that partisan backdrop, Feinstein, endorsed by voice vote from the floor Saturday, previewed potential themes of her campaign for November: stronger protections for HMO patients, trigger locks for handguns and more stringent campaign finance laws.

At a brief news conference, Feinstein took aim at two of Campbell’s proposals.

She described as “elitist” his suggestion that the government distribute illegal drugs in a controlled experiment to combat related crime. As for Campbell’s call for a 20% national sales tax, she said, “It’s a strange proposal and it’s . . . very hard on poor people.”

Still, Campbell’s generally moderate views have prompted some analysts to speculate that he could draw away Feinstein voters in the primary and keep them in the November general election.

Predictably, Democrats here said that won’t happen.

In a booming economy, said state Sen. Richard Alarcon of Sylmar, “people aren’t interested in any kind of change.”

Feinstein was among dozens of featured speakers at a convention still reveling in its 1998 statewide victories--a marked change from the middle to late 1980s, when Democrats were licking their wounds from a series of severe losses. The theme this weekend: “Celebrate!”

“It’s never happened before where we’ve had a Democratic governor, two Democratic senators, Democrats controlling [the Legislature] and a Democratic candidate for president coming here,” said Bob Mulholland, a longtime Democratic advisor and the convention’s coordinator.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides warned against complacency in a state that is at once the nation’s richest and the one with the largest gap between rich and poor.

One little-known challenger to Feinstein, East Bay attorney Michael Schmier, suggested that the party is losing its Democratic soul. Schmier, who has raised less than $5,000 to challenge the wealthy and well-financed incumbent, was indignant that organizers have declined to stage a debate between them.

Mulholland laughed when told of Schmier’s complaints.

“Who?” he said. “Look, running against Dianne Feinstein in the Democratic primary is like jumping off the Empire State Building: It’s all downhill.”

The weekend’s convention was in stark contrast to last week’s Republican state convention. There, Gray Davis’ 20-point walloping of former state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren in the 1998 gubernatorial contest was never far from conventioneers’ minds.

And while the Republicans spoke from the podium about reaching out to minority communities, minority delegates and volunteers were in short supply.

The Democratic event here is a kaleidoscope of ethnicities. The Chicano-Latino Caucus was by far the largest of 20 caucuses--officially recognized groups that push for their agenda to become part of the party’s platform.

“It keeps getting bigger and bigger every time!” state Sen. Richard Polanco of Los Angeles shouted to the group of about 200 people.

Davis and Vice President Al Gore were inseparable--even in print: Banners, placards, buttons and stickers proclaiming “Gray 4 Gore” filled the convention hall.

Gore brought the cheering crowd to its tiptoes at a reception late Friday night, hosted by Davis. He joked that he and Davis have become each other’s charisma advisors.