Wallets Start Opening in Senate Race

Never mind what you’ve read about Gov. Gray (Davis) or presidential hopeful George W. (Bush) or First Lady Hillary (you know). The fact is, not everyone is raking in millions of dollars this political season.

Consider California’s U.S. Senate race.

Six years after the costliest contest in congressional history, the 2000 campaign between incumbent Dianne Feinstein and Republican Tom Campbell seems to be just beginning to draw attention from political contributors.

True, Feinstein has collected almost as much this campaign as the $5 million raised at the same point in 1994. And Campbell’s almost $3 million in contributions is roughly 10 times the amount Feinstein’s rich 1994 opponent, then Rep. Michael Huffington (R-Santa Barbara), raised from outside contributors by this time.

Still, by June 1994 Huffington had dumped almost $9 million of his own money into his campaign. And his wealth, coupled with Feinstein’s formidable fund-raising, sparked a political arms race that drew long, national attention. Huffington’s campaign went on to cost almost $30 million, Feinstein’s, about half that amount.

This year, no one figures to be raising or spending that kind of cash. And consequently, the Senate race--so far--has seemed a snooze.

But things may be picking up.

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The month began with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) pledging his fund-raising support for Campbell. Then, last week, both former presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole and ex-Gov. Pete Wilson hosted small, $500- to $1,000-a-plate fund-raisers for the San Jose congressman. And all month long, Campbell has been hopscotching the state for fund-raisers and other events where he can increase his visibility--like a big Monday night reception in Palo Alto for Bush.

“He is stronger than he has ever been,” said one longtime GOP fund-raiser not affiliated with the campaign. “[The race] is still an uphill battle for him. But he is making a lot of progress.”

Feinstein, meantime, has hardly been a slouch.

Though her schedule of fund-raising events has not been quite as rigorous, she had a San Francisco event staged largely by gay and lesbian supporters, a San Jose fund-raiser hosted by that city’s mayor, Ron Gonzalez, and a private dinner at the ranch of Central Valley mega-farmer John Harris.

The haul for those three events alone was estimated at $250,000.

And on Saturday, that total could be doubled in one luncheon as President Clinton returns to California for his second Feinstein fund-raiser this year. The first, a gala dinner in San Francisco, brought her campaign some $300,000.

Why are things just starting to roll? “To a large degree, participation [in politics] becomes a habit,” said Feinstein’s campaign manager, Kam Kuwata. “You can . . . change the calendar from a June primary and make it in March. But people have a tendency to . . . say, ‘OK, here we are in May or June and this is when we get engaged in elections.’ ”

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For Campbell, the slow start may have actually been helpful.

After a lackluster primary, the iconoclastic congressman took weeks to get his campaign organization in order, though no one seemed to notice. And those on board from the beginning were either stretched thin or distracted. The name of Joe Shumate, who had been Campbell’s campaign manager, even surfaced in the scandal surrounding another of his political clients, Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush. Campbell said Monday that Shumate is no longer involved in his campaign.

And in recent weeks, Campbell has restructured his campaign, hiring several top aides to former Gov. Wilson, who defeated Feinstein in their 1990 race for governor.

His campaign activities have kept Campbell away from Congress; this year he has missed more than 100 floor votes, more than any House member, according to Congressional Quarterly.

But one recent vote, to support trade relations with China, may prove a boon. Campbell originally opposed the move but changed his mind, he said, when European nations reached an agreement with China that left the U.S. with no viable option. Campbell’s switch scored points with American businesses, many in that rich Silicon Valley, that had been angry about his earlier opposition to the trade pact with China.

“Before, I’d say, he had cemented the door shut with his opposition,” said one GOP fund-raiser. “But that vote gave him a chisel to start chipping away.”

Said Campbell’s new campaign spokesman, Sean Walsh: “There is still a general sense that Dianne Feinstein . . . is potentially a shoo-in, so voters haven’t focused on this race, fund-raisers haven’t focused on this race and political insiders haven’t focused on this race.

“But the Campbell campaign is gearing up . . . and the [long] lag between the primary and general election has not hurt it.”

Just as Campbell’s fund-raising efforts have been slowed by uncertainty about whether he can defeat Feinstein, so have some of her contributors held back, unconvinced she really has a race.

Indeed, she won in every demographic category of the March primary and even outpolled Campbell in his own congressional district.

But mindful of how political fortunes can vanish over a long campaign, Kuwata said he will assure that Feinstein’s fund-raising remains strong.

“The bottom line is this: We will not be out-raised and outspent in this campaign.”