McCarthy Launches ’88 Bid for U.S. Senate

Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, one of California’s longest-surviving political underdogs, launched the uphill campaign of his life on Wednesday to try and wrest away Republican Pete Wilson’s seat in the U.S. Senate.

McCarthy began his candidacy for the 1988 election in Wilson’s hometown of San Diego, and then traveled up the state to Los Angeles, Sacramento and concluded in his own hometown, San Francisco.

The liberal-leaning lieutenant governor opened a two-pronged attack, criticizing Wilson for lack of activism in office and imprudent defense spending.

When it comes to being a fireball in the Senate, Wilson will be proven lacking by the time the campaign is over, McCarthy said. “America expects our senators to stand for change and new approaches, to stand for what’s right even if it’s not always popular--to shape events and not just sit idly while history drifts by,” McCarthy said.

“By that standard, California has only one United States senator, and his name is Alan Cranston. . . . I’m saying Sen. Wilson has rendered a pale performance.”

On defense, McCarthy contended that Wilson’s item-by-item support for President Reagan’s military buildup, when put under the campaign spotlight, will show the senator out of step with most Californians.

“Enormous amounts of taxpayer money imprudently spent on new weapons systems have diverted investments that could be retooling our wobbly economy and helping us meet global competition in the civilian marketplace.”

In his most combative statement of the day, McCarthy indicated that he would try over the course of the campaign to link Wilson’s votes to contributions the senator has received from defense contractors.

“I reject the notion that a senator’s principal role is to cater to big contributors who thrive on government contractors and subsidies,” McCarthy said. He said he would not be more specific until later in the campaign.

The lieutenant governor conceded political risks associated with aggressively criticizing defense spending in a state that claims a disproportionate share of the defense dollar. But he said he would argue that Californians would find it to their “long-term advantage” to rechannel spending into non-military research and civilian programs.

McCarthy touched only briefly on other issues, most notably to say he would vote against any tax increase to balance the federal budget. He said this would force Congress to cut into wasteful defense spending.

These themes of defense and activism, and the hope that 1988 will be a Democratic political year, emerged as the foundation of a McCarthy candidacy that pollsters and the conventional wisdom figure as his longest reach yet in his surprising 25-year political career.

“I’ve never had anything come easy and I know that will be the character of this campaign,” McCarthy said. “But today you’re looking at an optimistic underdog.”

Now 56, McCarthy won his first race in November, 1963, when he became the youngest person ever elected to be a San Francisco supervisor. He became a state assemblyman in 1968.

Five and a half years later, he exploded politically as the man who came from obscurity to be chosen by his fellow legislators as Speaker of the Assembly. In 1982, and again in 1986, McCarthy beat odds-makers and won election as lieutenant governor, a feat that required voters to split the top of the ticket between Democrat McCarthy and Republican Gov. George Deukmejian.

As a legislator, McCarthy is remembered for his attention to matters of the environment and the elderly and his strong liberal influence over the business of the Assembly. As lieutenant governor, he has focused on economic development and trade, and has grown somewhat more moderate in outlook.

Born in New Zealand, McCarthy immigrated with his parents to San Francisco when he was 3. He has lived there ever since, as a lawyer and then as a politician. For an officeholder, he is a notorious homebody who will travel almost any distance at any hour to get home to his wife, Jackie.

Like Wilson, McCarthy is representative of that understated breed of officeholder that seems to be successful in California right now, a well-connected career politician with a reputation for caution, perseverance and hard work. Like Wilson, McCarthy’s style is on the starchy side. Neither man is regarded as a particularly gifted orator.

McCarthy sometimes jokes about his own stiffness, recalling when a writer caught him straightening his tie before he walked into his house to see his wife years ago.

With Wednesday’s announcement, McCarthy ended months of deliberation and introspection about whether he should take on Wilson or wait two years and seek the governorship.

The only other Democrat to organize a campaign for the Senate seat is Secretary of State March Fong Eu. Some other, less notable Democrats are still considering it, however.