California Fever Comes Early This Political Season

For a few moments this week, it seemed like October in California as Campaign 2000 burst into high gear, foreshadowing the high-stakes battle to come.

Up and down the state, all three dominant players on the national political stage peddled his own distinct message and agenda--each with an intensity often reserved for the final weeks of a presidential campaign.

Vice President Al Gore, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and President Clinton also soaked up millions of dollars in campaign cash during their Western tours.

Clinton, who has treated California virtually as a second home during his two White House terms, arrived Thursday evening and made a beeline for two fund-raisers in San Diego, helping Democrats raise about $600,000.

At the first event, for Assemblywoman Susan Davis, who is challenging Republican incumbent Brian P. Bilbray in one of the nation’s most closely contested House races, Clinton drew more than 1,000 loyal Democrats into a sweltering tent.

San Diego’s only Democratic congressman, Bob Filner, described the gathering as the largest turnout for a Democratic congressional candidate in San Diego history. The event at times took on the ambience of a Southern revival meeting, with the lively crowd and an energized Clinton clearly drawing energy from one another amid shouts of praise and affirmation.

“Four more years!” one voice called out at one point.

The president was in Los Angeles on Friday night, speaking at three more fund-raisers that raised $700,000 or so.

The first to land in California this week was Bush. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee arrived Monday and wasted no time signaling anew his determination to compete in California and help spark a GOP revival--despite polls showing him unlikely to win here.

Bush campaign officials insist that polls taken of those likely to vote show the race is in a virtual dead heat. And they said Bush will be a frequent visitor to the state, including a return to Southern California the week of the Fourth of July.

Bush has gone to great lengths to distance himself from the racially divisive battles over illegal immigration and affirmative action that have staggered the Republican Party in California. He rejects English-only proposals, and he talks about the importance Latino culture has played in Texas.

Bush has also been very successful in his fund-raising efforts in California, where he has generated nearly 10% of the $90 million that has gone into the campaign’s coffers.

Last week, nearly $7 million in contributions for the campaign and the Republican National Committee came from events held in Palo Alto and Los Angeles.

Brad Freeman, Bush’s chief California fund-raiser, pointed to his success in Silicon Valley as a sign of shifting fortunes in the state. Bush raised $4 million on his latest visit to the new-technology rich region. In mid-April, Gore raised $2.7 million there.

But California Democrats say the state is safe turf for Gore.

“He’s going to work California, but he’s not going to sweat about it,” said Bob Mulholland, political director for the state Democratic Party. “He’s in sync with Californians, from high-tech to higher education.”

Gore, who cannot conceivably capture the White House without California’s 54 electoral votes, arrived in Palo Alto on Friday for his 27th visit to the state since March 1999.

He wrapped up the second week of his “progress and prosperity” campaign tour with a stop in Silicon Valley, where he downed two lunches within an hour--ranging from a $4 deli sandwich with a handful of small-business owners to a $25,000-per-plate fund-raising meal with DNC supporters at a sprawling mansion.

The presumptive Democratic nominee for president also announced a plan to expand worker training and make lifelong learning more affordable.

At the San Mateo Adult School, which specializes in adult job training and placement for dislocated workers, Gore told a cramped room of students they deserve to realize their dreams.

“Every hard-working American should have the chance to use their best talents, from the factory floor to the floor of the stock exchange,” Gore said, noting that a new commitment to training and retraining would ensure that “every worker at every level in every business in every industry has the skills and training to turn a job into a career.”

The worker training plan would cost $2.3 billion over 10 years and include a tax deduction of up to $10,000 for post-secondary education and training, regardless of tax brackets.

Perhaps the most energetic of the three campaigners was the one who, in his own words, is not running for anything “for the first time in 26 years.”

At nearly every stop, the president proudly touts his legacy--founded on the nation’s economic turnaround--while promoting Democrats up and down the ticket and above all his loyal vice president, whom he described at one gathering this week as “one of the best decisions I ever made in my entire life--about anything.”

As ardently as he campaigned for Gore and other Democrats, however, Clinton did not really go after Bush with much vigor. The president merely pointed out, repeatedly, that voters need to be mindful of the two parties’ competing agendas.

As he put it in San Diego: “There are real differences and they are profound.”

Clinton is scheduled to have breakfast today with the Democratic National Convention 2000 Host Committee at a $1.5-million event at Mayor Richard Riordan’s home. Attending will be about 150 people who paid at least $25,000 per couple for the privilege of helping finance the quadrennial Democratic powwow.

Before leaving Los Angeles, Clinton also is scheduled to drop in on two more money events, projected to raise $1 million or so. A good portion of that will go to the campaign of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Before leaving San Diego on Friday afternoon, Clinton toured the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, watching athletes training for such Olympic competitions as race walking, pole vaulting and archery.

Speaking at the 150-acre facility, the president also announced several initiatives to broaden opportunities for athletes, especially women. Friday was the anniversary of the enactment of Title IX, a provision to a 1972 law that banned gender discrimination in sports at schools receiving federal funds.

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Times staff writers Bonnie Harris, Megan Garvey and Massie Ritsch contributed to this story.