CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / U.S. SENATE : Feinstein Weighing Use of Her Own Funds : Incumbent says that despite impressions, many family assets are in her husband’s name and therefore inaccessible.

SAN FRANCISCO —  With signs that Republican Mike Huffington is planning a financially unprecedented finish for his U.S. Senate campaign, incumbent Dianne Feinstein conceded at a weekend fund-raiser that she probably could not keep up with her opponent unless she uses some of her own money.

Feinstein added, however, that her resources are still limited, despite impressions that her wealth is comparable to Huffington’s. She said federal campaign laws prohibit access to most of her family assets because they are in her husband’s name and not community property.

“My husband cannot contribute to my campaign any more than anyone else can,” Feinstein said at a fund-raiser Friday evening featuring Vice President Al Gore. “What I have is really my half of our home and our beach house and what we’re looking at is really re-mortgaging that.”

Feinstein contributed about $3 million to her losing campaign for governor in 1990 by leveraging the same properties. She said Friday that she is still trying to determine how much she can contribute to her Senate race.

Feinstein’s need to use her own resources reflects the extraordinarily high price of this Senate race, because she is already one of Washington’s biggest fund-raisers. After nearly two years of raising money for this election, Feinstein is on a pace to spend at least 50% more than she needed to unseat appointed Republican Sen. John Seymour in 1992.

But she is still being vastly outspent by Huffington, a freshman Santa Barbara congressman who is paying for his campaign with a personal fortune gained in the sale of his family’s Texas oil and gas company.

With new polls indicating the U.S. Senate candidates are in a close match--if not a dead heat--the financial strength of the two candidates looms as a potentially decisive factor in selecting California’s next senator.

Based on spending estimates already in, there is little doubt that California’s race will be the most expensive congressional contest in U.S. history, surpassing the previous record of $25 million.

By the Nov. 8 election, Feinstein’s campaign is expected to spend $12 million to $15 million. Huffington, observers say, appears likely to exceed $20 million, possibly by a significant amount.

The calculations are based on the last finance statements filed by the candidates June 30 and media observers who monitor television stations throughout the state to determine how much money the campaigns are spending on television.

“It is perhaps the most competitive race in the country and definitely the most expensive,” said Ken Klein, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial National Committee in Washington. “We are intensely interested in the California race and we are going to do everything we can to help Feinstein.”

Feinstein is likely to need the help, despite the fact she has raised more money in the last three years than any non-presidential candidate. On Friday, media observers around the state reported that Huffington’s campaign has been purchasing time on television for the last weeks of the campaign at a level they have never seen.

Some observers estimated that he could spend as much as $2 million in the final week alone and almost $5 million in a bit more than the last three weeks. One source said that for the last week before the Nov. 8 election, Huffington has already spent $400,000 at a single Los Angeles television station.

“This is like, ‘We will buy whatever we want to buy and money is no object,’ ” the source said. “The analogy I would make is that Feinstein is driving a Chevy and these guys are driving Rolls-Royces. And she’s no putz.”

Media observers also said Huffington is buying much more prime time than political campaigns can usually afford since each spot costs about triple the amount of regular time purchases.

The advantage of prime time can be significant for a candidate because it takes a much shorter time for the campaign to get its message to a substantial number of voters. If the ad is an attack, it can also force the opponent to respond with a similar level of spending or take a significantly longer time to reach those same voters.

Huffington campaign officials said the estimates were overstated, but declined to say how much they will spend. Kathy Farrell, the media buyer for Huffington, said Huffington’s buys would be larger than Feinstein’s.

Huffington has defended his expensive campaign by saying it was necessary because he was an unknown congressman at the beginning of the year, while Feinstein had spent more than $30 million on her last two statewide campaigns.

Critics have complained that Huffington is trying to buy the race with a personal fortune estimated at $75 million. Huffington has responded that his personal money allows him to be independent from the special interests that traditionally influence Washington and politicians like Feinstein.

Feinstein campaign officials said Friday that they are confident they will have enough money to be competitive with Huffington, although they expect to be outspent throughout the race. The Democratic senator has been saving money for a final push when she hopes to substantially close the financial gap with Huffington.

The fund-raiser with Gore Friday night was among Feinstein’s largest of the campaign, taking in more than $200,000. The event for about 250 people included a dinner and reception in San Francisco’s financial district.

President Clinton has also attended two California fund-raisers for Feinstein, raising a total of almost $2 million.

“We are not going to be close to his overall spending (for the campaign),” said Feinstein campaign manager Kam Kuwata. “But I think we are going to be on TV enough that we can drive home our message.”