CAMPAIGN JOURNAL / CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : Brown Forages for Votes on Radio Show Known for Antics

Kathleen Brown had been the guest on the radio talk show for barely 30 seconds when she exclaimed in mock horror: “This is NOT Michael Jackson! Not even close. Not even close.”

Indeed not. Michael Jackson--the other Michael Jackson--is the respectful, erudite 28-year veteran of that rival talk station, KABC. On this Tuesday evening, the state treasurer and Democratic nominee for governor of California was the guest of Stephanie Miller, the hyper, brash, ribald host from 7 to 9 p.m. each weeknight on KFI, which boasts of “more STIM-u-lat-ing” talk.

Candidate Brown seemed to be blanching a bit. And Miller hadn’t even got to her description of Atty. Gen. Janet Reno’s border crackdown as “Operation Kick-Ass, or something, I don’t know . . .” Or her jibes at Republican Gov. Pete Wilson as the testosterone candidate they wind up with a screw in the back of his head. “Maybe he has a little microchip back there,” she added.

No one mentioned the time Miller had her breasts cast in plaster--live, over 50,000 watts--for the making of a bronze bust, so to speak, for a charity auction. Or how she makes a lusty, purring sound in her throat to the men who call in.

On Wednesday, Brown said she knew that the Miller show would be freewheeling, but that she was not worried about embarrassment or falling into rhetorical quicksand. There always are risks, she said, but “I am one who believes you have got to get out there and take your message to the people.”

And it was fun, Brown said.

In an election-year atmosphere fraught with peril, radio talk shows in fierce battles for ratings can become a candidate’s worst nightmare--a political “Jaws.”

KFI also is the station of Rush Limbaugh and local hosts such as John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, who routinely skewer politicians as hacks and treat political guests as red meat to be thrown to the mob.

Assemblyman Tom Umberg of Garden Grove, now the Democratic nominee for attorney general, was virtually eviscerated when he went on “The John and Ken Show” during the “three strikes” debate this year.

John and Ken lead into the Miller show each evening. Kobylt made it clear this week that he thought that sharing their 50,000 watts with Kathleen Brown was a waste of time. “A woman without an idea,” he sneered.

What Tuesday night provided, however, was a rare hour of levity in what has been a decidedly humorless gubernatorial campaign. In the process, Brown got to put her message across--in serious, schoolmarm fashion, as usual--but she also got in one pretty good impromptu line.

During a break, Brown learned that Miller’s brother, William E. Miller Jr., is the Republican nominee in the 29th Congressional District in the Buffalo, N.Y., area. That is the House seat once held by their late father, who was Barry Goldwater’s vice presidential running mate in 1964.

Brown’s father is former Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown and her brother is former Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. Kathleen Brown remained in the family Democratic mold. Stephanie Miller rebelled against her family’s GOP roots.

Back on the air, Kathleen Brown said: “This is perfect. You have a brother who’s running for elected office, and I have a brother with a radio talk show. We have things in common. We have the Brown-Miller connection.”

Stephanie Miller nightly offers a semi-outrageous mix of staccato stand-up comedy, liberal feminism and sexual teasing along with some serious political discussion.

On Tuesday, though, the 33-year-old Miller acknowledged that she was on her Catholic schoolgirl best behavior, toning down some of the more raucous aspects of her usual show on Brown’s behalf.

During those first 30 seconds, all Miller had done was to welcome Brown to the studio with the honored sobriquet, “Girlfriend!” and introduced her with cheers and applause from all the studio hands. As the show unfolded, she interjected at every opportunity: “Vote for Kathleen Brown, vote for Kathleen Brown. . . . You are getting sleepy. . . . Vote for Kathleen Brown. . . . I don’t care who wins--vote for Kathleen Brown.”

This is not the sort of bland, down-the-middle treatment that Brown, or any other politician, receives in making the talk show circuit in places such as Eureka or Salinas.

Most of the half a dozen calls were friendly ones. When Jeff in San Bernardino raved over Brown’s economic program, Miller chided: “Jeff, you’re a bigger liberal suck-up than I am.”

Miller told Brown she knew all about the 62-page economic plan: “I’ve seen you hawking those things. It’s like Moonies at the airport.”

When the hour was over, Miller and Brown hugged, and Brown left the studio west of Downtown for home.

In the next hour, Miller was back to her more sassy self. When Ron of Anaheim called to gush--a little too glibly--that he thought Miller was a “beautiful, intelligent liberal” who was 100% right on the issues, Miller retorted tartly:

“Ah ha! This was just a cheap way to get in my pants--is that the deal, Ron?”

Not Michael Jackson, indeed.

Miller also has invited Gov. Wilson to appear on her show. She might even call him “Boyfriend!”