Panetta, Feinstein Agree to Avoid Battle for Governor

Outgoing White House Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) have talked privately about which of them should run for governor next year and have agreed that neither wants a bloody primary battle that would weaken the eventual Democratic nominee, according to Panetta.

Panetta, a former California congressman, and Feinstein have both said that they are considering the race and both said this week that they are undecided about it. But they appear to have reached at least one conclusion: They do not want to run against each other.

“Sen. Feinstein and I have a very good relationship and both of us have talked to each other and said we’re going to continue to talk to each other . . . about our futures,” Panetta said in an interview this week. “There will always be primary challenges . . . [but] it’s important not to have the kind of bloody primaries that can hurt you in terms of your ability to win.”

Feinstein, through a spokeswoman, confirmed that she has talked several times with Panetta and that “politics has come up.” But she refused to describe the conversations.

If Feinstein decides to run, Democratic political consultants said, she would be the early favorite--and Panetta, who is relatively little-known among voters statewide, might well decide to stay out.

But if Feinstein decides not to run, they said, she might throw her support to Panetta, whom she has said would “make a good candidate.”

Feinstein and Panetta have worked closely together since Feinstein came to the Senate in 1992 and have often expressed high regard for each other.

By contrast, Feinstein has expressed no such warmth toward another potential candidate, Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, who tangled with her in an acrid Senate primary campaign in 1992.

“The conventional wisdom in this race is that Dianne is the 800-pound gorilla,” said Democratic consultant Darry Sragow. “Everybody else is waiting for her to decide.”

Another prominently mentioned Democratic prospect for the governor’s race is state Controller Kathleen Connell.

Panetta said that he will not decide whether to run until he returns home to Carmel Valley this month and talks with friends and supporters in the state.

But, he said, he needs to decide by early summer, in part because of the state’s new campaign funding law, Proposition 208, which limits donations to statewide candidates to $500 from each voter.

“Anybody who doesn’t get started by this summer in terms of putting together an organization and making a commitment to do it is going to start falling behind,” he said.

After 20 years in Washington--he represented the Salinas area in the House for 16 years until President Clinton named him head of the Office of Management and Budget in 1993 and chose him later as chief of staff--Panetta said that he is looking forward to going home.

“The one thing I missed in this job [as White House chief of staff] that I had in the Congress . . . was the ability to get back to California,” he said.

On the other hand, he conceded that he probably would not turn down a chance to serve in the U.S. Senate--for example, if Feinstein were to win the governorship in 1998 and appoint a successor to her own seat (her current term runs through 2000).

“I haven’t excluded that possibility,” he said with a grin.