Running for No. 2 Spot With No. 1 as the Goal

It’s no secret that state Sen. Tom McClintock and California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi believe their rightful title should be governor.

But they would be content to have it cluttered with “lieutenant” for at least the next four years.

Garamendi, a Sacramento-area Democrat, and McClintock, a Republican from Thousand Oaks, are running for lieutenant governor on the Nov. 7 ballot, in what might be the statewide election’s closest race.

The position is often mocked for its limited clout but valued as a potential springboard to California’s top job.

Ideological and stylistic opposites, with a mutual loner streak, McClintock and Garamendi have waged unsuccessful campaigns for governor in the past and haven’t let defeat quell their hunger.

The road-worn Sacramento veterans insist they aren’t scheming that far ahead.

But supporters say the candidates are convinced that winning the No. 2 post would give them another shot -- perhaps their last, best shot -- at the bigger prize.

“It puts Tom in training if he’s going to be governor in 2010,” said Shawn Steel, former Republican Party state chairman.

“There’s no doubt John wants to be the governor,” said Democratic strategist Darry Sragow.

Polls showed that the 61-year-old Garamendi emerged from a bruising June primary -- he held off state Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) -- with an edge over McClintock, who faced token opposition for the Republican nomination.

Garamendi’s perceived advantages included a Democratic tilt in California’s voter registration and the headlines that he earned in his rate-curbing battles with the insurance industry.

True to form, the rancher and former UC Berkeley football player also benefited from his well-preserved, athletic good looks, an easy and empathetic touch on the stump -- toothy grins for everyone -- and a list of legislative accomplishments that date to his years as an assemblyman and state Senate majority leader.

More early comfort came from the fact that Garamendi’s positions in support of abortion rights, tougher gun control and broader environmental protections are in sync with the sentiments of the voting majority in California.

By contrast, McClintock occupies the minority ground on those passion-stirring issues and has a relatively thin record as a lawmaker.

But recent surveys had the November contest neck and neck. And trend-watchers say McClintock could be surfing in the wake of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who enjoys a wide lead over his challenger, Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides.

“If I don’t get it this time, I’ll have to fire my pollster,” McClintock said with a laugh.

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McClintock, 50, is not known for jollity. The stiff, bookish and somewhat iconoclastic lover of tax-policy debates is the un-Garamendi. He is tall, like his opponent, but appears at times to shrink within himself, pinning his shoulders close to his ears when he speaks, in a reflex that can undercut the confidence in his voice.

First elected to the Assembly at age 26, McClintock finished a distant third in the 2003 gubernatorial recall.

That followed his two failed bids for state controller, in 1994 and 2002, the second one a squeaker. He also came up short in a 1992 campaign for Congress.

But the attention generated by the historic recall dramatically lifted McClintock’s profile and made him a hero to his party’s right wing.

He is a darling of conservative talk radio, with his erudite railings against government spending and illegal immigration.

And there is a sense that he has fashioned an image as a refreshingly unglamorous Mr. Straight Shooter, whose appeal transcends his philosophical base, intriguing independent voters who disdain everything slick and opaque in politics.

“He doesn’t come off as a scary, arm-waving ideologue,” said Democratic operative Garry South. “He seems honest, he’s sincere, he’s obviously very intelligent.”

John Woolley, chairman of the political science department at UC Santa Barbara, agrees that McClintock has managed to accumulate stature without highlighting his less popular views.

“The McClintock situation is a very interesting one,” he said. “Most people really don’t know where he stands on those issues.”

Then there’s the dollar factor:

McClintock is finally persuading the Republican establishment to open its checkbooks for him, a first in his runs for state office.

His unbending opposition to what he considers government profligacy -- he has voted against all but a handful of state budgets in his two decades in the Legislature -- has frequently alienated party comrades.

So has his general aversion to compromise on goals he holds dear, such as stepping up deportations of illegal immigrants -- never mind Republican attempts, starting with the Bush administration, to embrace Latino voters more.

“I have been highly critical of George Bush for abandoning what I believe is his most fundamental responsibility as president, and that is to defend the integrity of our borders,” he said.

McClintock’s personality hasn’t endeared him to GOP power brokers either.

“A lot of people don’t like him,” said Republican consultant Allan Hoffenblum. “He’s stubborn.”

Now, all appears to be forgiven.

“He’s getting the money this time,” said Duf Sundheim, California Republican chairman. “You had divisions in the party before, and those divisions have been brought together.”

McClintock has raised more than $4 million, a figure he expects will increase by election day.

The Republican Party, smelling a possible win, has kicked in with ads attacking Garamendi.

“He’s a fellow who follows a very different set of principles,” McClintock said, after addressing a luncheon meeting of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, a group of business and professional people who gathered at the silver-and-crystal Center Club in Costa Mesa.

“The budget has been growing much too fast,” he added. “The only problem that Angelides and Garamendi have with it is that it’s not careening out of control fast enough.”

McClintock shrugged off Garamendi’s efforts to paint him as an extremist, particularly for his opposition to abortion and stricter gun control.

“People have become acquainted with my views on that wide range of issues and take it in perspective,” he said.

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After speaking at a very different lunch, a cafeteria affair at a senior center in the Crenshaw district, Garamendi scoffed at McClintock’s characterization of him as a budget buster.

“He doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about,” Garamendi said.

Asked about his reputation among some Democrats as an aloof campaigner with his own under-performing history as a fund-raiser, the commissioner responded: “That is flat-out bullshit. Nobody spends more time reaching out than I do.”

Garamendi’s campaign entered the fall barely in the black, although he spent much of his money on advance purchases of media spots for the closing weeks of the race.

Through September, he also had out-collected McClintock overall, with total contributions of $4.8 million.

“He’s amusing, he’s interesting, but he’s never been on the front line of solving the tough problems of the state,” Garamendi said. “I have.”

Garamendi lost Democratic primary campaigns for governor in 1982 and 1994, and a 1986 run for controller.

He was first elected insurance commissioner in 1990 and won the position again four years ago.

If victory eludes him next month, he said, it might be time to leave politics and return to a life of nonpartisan service. Garamendi and his wife were Peace Corps volunteers before he attended Harvard Business School.

“Patti and I will rejoin the Peace Corps and go back to Africa,” he said.

The lieutenant governor sits on the boards of the University of California and California State University, and on the Lands Commission, which regulates state-owned property holdings and waterways. Otherwise, he or she fills in when the governor is out of state.

Ten lieutenant governors have moved up since California entered the union in 1850, but seven of them did so after the governor died or resigned.

Of the three who were elected -- one had been an acting lieutenant governor -- the last was Gray Davis, who was recalled five years later.

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paul.pringle@latimes.com

For exclusive web features, including the new Political Muscle blog, go to latimes.com/californiapolitics.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Tom McClintock

Party: Republican

Occupation: State senator

Age: 50, born in White Plains, N.Y.

Residence: Thousand Oaks and Elk Grove (Sacramento County)

Personal: Married; two children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA

Career highlights: State Assembly, 1982 to 1992; 1996 to 2000; director, Center for the California Taxpayer, 1992 to 1994; director, economic regulatory affairs, Claremont Institute’s Golden State Center for Policy Studies, 1995 to 1996; state Senate, 2000 to present.

Platform: Work to limit wasteful spending in state government. Increase financial scrutiny of University of California and Cal State University systems. Advocate trimming K-12 bureaucracies to direct more money to classrooms. Oppose efforts to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

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John Garamendi

Party: Democrat

Occupation: State insurance commissioner

Age: 61; born in Camp Blanding, Fla.

Residence: Walnut Grove (Sacramento County)

Personal: Married; six children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in business, UC Berkeley; master’s in business administration, Harvard University

Career highlights: State Assembly, 1974 to 1976; state Senate, 1976 to 1990; state insurance commissioner, 1991 to 1995 and 2003 to the present; deputy secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1995 to 1998

Platform: Turn the lieutenant governor’s office into a watchdog. Work to fully fund schools but demand audits to ensure that money is spent in classrooms. Work to protect home care services for senior citizens. Advocate universal healthcare. Press to make California a world leader in fighting global warming.