The Irony of Feinstein’s Predicament

EUREKA —  It’s ironic the California senator who probably set the rookie record for achievement--certainly for a two-year term--now faces an electorate that may not care. Indeed, an electorate that may even hold it against her.

It’s ironic her political achievement reminds voters she’s a politician and, ergo, for many in this era of alienation, that naturally represents evil. Ironic further that in achieving, she has successfully battled against a major cause of the alienation: legislative gridlock.

Ironic that this native Californian has trained all her adult life for the job and, despite having performed it skillfully, now is in danger of being replaced with a newcomer from Texas who virtually ignores the only elective office he ever has held.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein knows how to deliver for her constituents--how to cajole, maneuver and deal. It’s something Rep. Mike Huffington disdains.

For “Mrs. Feinstein and her fellow travelers ,” he says, uprooting a red-baiting anachronism from the McCarthy era, “big government is their god.” They play “the oldest game in town. It’s the I’ll-scratch-your-back/you-scratch-mine, pork-trading game designed to keep politicians forever in Washington.”

It’s ironic. That’s how the game of democracy--the game of bloodless politics--was set up to be played. Citizens elect somebody to represent them at the Capitol and if this politician delivers, he or she gets reelected. But maybe not these days.

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Feinstein now is barely ahead of Huffington in the polls after having led last March by 30 points. He’ll spend perhaps $25 million of his personal fortune by Election Day. She’s mortgaging her house to augment private donations, but probably will spend only half what he does on TV ads. She knows he could beat her.

“It’s been a very sobering thought for me,” she said in almost a whisper at an Art Deco sports bar, where a local supporter had led her after a long campaigning day. Political advisers had urged her to forget the California Desert Protection Act--which took many weeks of finagling to get passed--and return home to campaign. Forget the assault rifle ban, which stirred up enemies anyway. Don’t worry about voting on bills. Worry about your own votes.

“But, you know, all my life what I’ve tried to do is make government work,” said the former San Francisco mayor. “And there isn’t another way for me. I figure, look, even if I’m there for just two years, I have left a legacy. I have done some things that aren’t going to get undone.”

But, she continued, “Does anybody really care?” The senator mentioned a $50-million federal waste water grant for Los Angeles that she helped save. “Nobody really knows about it.”

She lamented that it’s difficult to spread the word on her achievements because positive TV ads no longer seem to work. People don’t believe the good deeds claimed by politicians. And her achievements won’t effect voters personally until long after the election. So what if she’s good at playing the congressional game, say the alienated.

Feinstein therefore is counterpunching. She’s firing negative ads at Huffington, as he has been at her for months. “I had to punch back,” she said. “You reach a point, you either punch back or you go down.”

What does she think of Huffington personally , I asked. She paused a very long time, staring into a Campari and soda. Finally in a low voice: “Not very much.”

“Let me tell you,” she added, leaning forward and referring to the 1990 gubernatorial race, “I understood losing to Pete Wilson. Here’s a man that’s a part of the state. Was a mayor. Was a United States senator. Really does care. It’s hard to understand losing to this guy. He doesn’t care one whit about the state of California.”

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The day had started in Sacramento, speaking to the Chamber of Commerce. She talked of helping to deliver $27 million to the city through the federal crime bill. In all, she said, California’s share of the federal pie had increased by 27% during her tenure.

Later at a Chico restaurant, she exclaimed to applauding supporters: “Police officers aren’t pork. Jails aren’t pork. Boot camps aren’t pork . . . “

Outside, 50 gun worshipers demonstrated against her assault rifle ban. “You don’t shoot a deer with an assault weapon if you’re any kind of a hunter at all,” she told the audience. “You only use assault weapons to walk into a room like this and mow down people.”

That evening in Eureka, where loggers have lost jobs because of the spotted owl, she defended her desert protection bill. It won’t cost jobs, she asserted, and it will stop people from chipping away at prehistoric dinosaur tracks.

You couldn’t help but wonder whether Feinstein’s brand of politics was going the way of dinosaurs.