Top Republican Officials Distance White House From Riordan’s Loss

Although President Bush encouraged Richard Riordan to run for governor, top Republican political strategists insisted Wednesday that blame for the former Los Angeles mayor’s stunning loss should not be laid at the White House’s doorstep.

Instead, a senior administration official cited three reasons for the outcome of Tuesday’s Republican primary: a devastating attack on Riordan by Gov. Gray Davis, Riordan’s own poor performance as a candidate and what the White House viewed as a mistake-free campaign by businessman Bill Simon Jr.

A political strategist close to Bush said the White House now will be watching how Simon fares in November as the GOP nominee. A strong showing by Simon against Davis, the strategist said, could lead Bush to make a point of competing for the state in 2004. Conversely, a sizable Davis victory probably would discourage him from contesting California.

“The result in 2002 could really determine that,” the strategist said.

Despite spending more than $20 million on the state, Bush lost California by 12 percentage points to Democrat Al Gore in 2000. Since he took office, Bush and his advisors have pondered how to improve on that performance and rebuild the state’s downtrodden GOP organization. Riordan was seen by the White House as a centrist with the best shot at unseating Davis.

Now, questions about the White House strategy are being raised anew in the aftermath of Riordan’s flameout.

“The White House team has done a lot right,” said Charlie Cook, an independent political analyst in Washington. “But in the case of California, they’ve done wrong. They just don’t understand the state.”

The Bush team’s misstep in the state contrasts with effective interventions in GOP circles this year in Minnesota, North Carolina and South Dakota. In those states, the Senate candidate embraced by Bush and his team appears all but certain to win the party’s nomination. And each has a strong shot at winning in November.

The senior administration official, asked if California should be viewed as a continuing political mystery to Bush and his team, replied: “California is a big state and they are going to make their own decisions. We know that.”

Bush allies in California insisted that the president should not be judged harshly for Tuesday’s results.

State Senate Republican leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga noted that the president never directly endorsed Riordan and never campaigned for him publicly.

“Riordan was not ‘the Bush candidate,’ ” said Brulte, who helped lead the Bush presidential campaign in California. He said the White House also encouraged him and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to seek the gubernatorial nod.

Administration officials and Bush hands in California repeatedly helped the Riordan campaign, however. At one point, administration officials arranged for Riordan to ask Bush to allow California to expand health care for poor children. Actually, the administration had already privately approved the move, but the arrangement gave Riordan the ability to take credit for the expansion.

Bush aides on Wednesday were not second-guessing their strategy in promoting a Riordan candidacy. But the strategist in Washington close to Bush said White House aides began to have doubts about Riordan even before the tide had clearly turned against him.

That was one possible reason no one with links to Bush leaped to Riordan’s defense when his credentials as a Republican first came under attack, the strategist said.

“Long before [Riordan] really started to tank, there was a concern about what kind of general election candidate he would be,” said the strategist, who requested anonymity.

If Bush erred in nudging Riordan into the race, he had plenty of company among prominent Republicans in Washington. Most of the state’s GOP House members urged Riordan to run. Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) co-chaired his campaign.

“Dick Riordan was the one candidate with whom we had worked very closely,” Dreier said. He said Bush advisors did not mastermind the Riordan strategy, and thus are not responsible for his defeat.

Dreier also said that he advised Bush on Tuesday that it appeared Simon would win and the president replied, tongue-in-cheek: “I was for him all along.”

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Times staff writer James Gerstenzang contributed to this report.