Zschau Bitingly Compares Cranston to a Drug Habit

Trying to persuade a state Republican convention that he is tough enough to knock off Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston in November, GOP Senate nominee Ed Zschau Saturday compared Cranston to a drug habit.

Noting that drug abuse is a major problem facing California and the nation, Zschau said in his lunchtime address to the GOP delegates meeting in the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel:

“We are well acquainted with the dangers of using cocaine and crack. Today I would like to tell you about the dangers of taking too much Cranston.”

This brought laughter and applause from the Republican crowd, some of whom have wondered over the last few months whether Zschau was willing to wage the negative campaign that many party strategists contend is required to dislodge the incumbent Cranston.

Those strategists were especially concerned when, over the summer, Cranston managed to make Zschau’s two-term House record the issue rather than Cranston’s 18-year record. A Los Angeles Times Poll in early September showed Zschau trailing by 15 points.

After failing to get Cranston to agree to one-on-one debates, Zschau has recently shifted to speeches and television ads that harshly criticize the senator.

Continuing with his drug habit metaphor Saturday, Zschau told the delegates: “Our research has shown that taking Cranston has cost jobs to California. It seems like the only job he cares about is his own. The U. S. Chamber of Commerce has rated Cranston next to last . . . for his anti-business, anti-jobs record.”

He charged that Cranston’s support for Proposition 65, the Clean Drinking Water initiative on the November ballot, was a “political ploy” and predicted the ballot measure--which led overwhelmingly in recent polls--would cost jobs in agriculture and business.

Noting that Cranston opposes a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget and voted against the Gramm-Rudman automatic spending cuts, Zschau delivered the line that brought the most applause:

“Taking too much Cranston can be dangerous to your wealth.”

And after criticizing Cranston for opposing the death penalty and accusing him of being “weak” toward the Soviet Union and communists, Zschau concluded:

“On Nov. 4, voters are going to rise up and kick the Cranston habit, and you know it’s easy. . . . All they have to do is just say no.”

The response of the delegates was enthusiastic, and one of Zschau’s former detractors, Assemblyman Robert Naylor (R-Menlo Park) said after the speech that he thought that Zschau was now moving to consolidate the Republican vote.

“It was the best anti-Cranston theme I’ve heard,” said Naylor, who opposed Zschau in the GOP primary and predicted that the Los Altos congressman’s inconsistent record on the MX missile and aid to the Nicaraguan contras would turn off some party conservatives.

“I think he may finally be pulling together those threads that haven’t been there,” Naylor added.

The Times Poll showed that only 46% of the Republicans were supporting Zschau and that 18% actually preferred Cranston.

Moving Toward Zschau

On Saturday, Zschau pollster Gary Lawrence released the results of his ongoing tracking survey, which he said showed that Republicans have started moving toward Zschau since he began running tough ads on television criticizing Cranston’s record on anti-terrorist and drug enforcement legislation.

But although Lawrence maintained that his polling found Cranston to be vulnerable, he also said that the lack of voter attention this year clearly favors incumbent office holders around the country.

In his speech to the convention Saturday, Gov. George Deukmejian--whose GOP base appeared solid in the Times Poll--sounded a much more moderate tone than Zschau, urging Democrats and independents to “join our cause.”

While noting that he strongly opposes the confirmation November of California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and Justices Joseph R. Grodin and Cruz Reynoso, Deukmejian reminded reporters that he was supporting liberal Justice Stanley Mosk’s confirmation.

Puts Aside Views

Like Bird, Deukmejian said, Mosk opposes the death penalty “but as he (Mosk) has looked at death penalty cases, he reviewed the Constitution and the prior decisions of the court and the statutes in the case. He has been able to put aside his personal views and philosophy and been able to affirm some death penalty cases whereas Rose Bird has found some excuse in every case to not affirm death penalty decisions.”

Deukmejian once again urged President Reagan to support stronger sanctions against the South African government because of its apartheid policies and said, “If I were a congressman I would vote to override” the President’s recent veto of sanctions passed by the Congress.

On another matter, Deukmejian said he disagrees with the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, Mike Curb, who recently said someone convicted of a felony for the third time, even if it is a burglary, should get life in prison without possibility of parole.

“I wouldn’t vote for that,” Deukmejian said, although he said he might support stronger penalties than those now on the books.