Feinstein Decides Against Entering Governor’s Race

Calling it the most difficult decision of her life, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein ended months of speculation Tuesday by turning her back on opinion polls and stepping away from the race for governor.

In an understated announcement that belied the long buildup, Feinstein said she had no desire to give up her “creative” work in the Senate for the “conflicted environment” of a campaign--and a race that would have been her third statewide run in five years.

“People said to me, ‘Maybe the sun, moon and stars are right this time,’ ” Feinstein, who would have been the Democratic front-runner, told reporters in a conference call from her San Francisco office. “Maybe they are right, and maybe they aren’t. But I do know that you would have to want to make a race--and I really want to finish my term in the Senate.”

Not a call from President Clinton, beseeching from scores of fellow Democrats or the $10 million she claimed in pledged contributions could change her negative inclination, she said.

“I thought if a call from the president doesn’t really do it for me, nothing’s going to,” the 64-year-old senator said of her conversation earlier this month with Clinton.

On the political Richter scale, her decision was the Big One. “It throws everything up for grabs,” said political analyst Larry Gerston, a San Jose State professor, who added that each of the candidates stands to benefit.

Feinstein’s decision essentially sets up for now a two-man contest for the Democratic nomination between multimillionaire businessman Al Checchi and Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, with neither a clear favorite. State Sen. John Vasconcellos of Santa Clara is also pondering the race, but is not expected to be able to compete on the same financial footing.

Leon Panetta, former White House chief of staff and Monterey congressman, said he would also consider entering the contest in the wake of Feinstein’s exit.

“While it is obviously late in the campaign season, the stakes are very high for California in the upcoming election,” he said in a prepared statement. “With this new development, I have some thinking to do and will spend the next few days reassessing my own plans.”

On the Republican side, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren is running without serious opposition in the June primary. Term limits bar Gov. Pete Wilson from seeking reelection.

The candidates were quick to offer kind words Tuesday for Feinstein--and just as swiftly moved to capitalize on her absence from the field. Within an hour of her statement, Checchi was seen prowling the state Capitol in search of support. Republicans were fairly skipping through the streets.

“This is a wonderful day,” exulted GOP consultant Dan Schnur. “If you listen carefully, the sound you hear is Dan Lungren raising money.”

With the biggest single question mark removed--and other imponderables regarding term limits and campaign financing settled for now--additional pieces of the political puzzle quickly started falling into place.

Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno)--who was holding off pending a sure sign that Davis would stay in the governor’s race--plans a press conference today in Sacramento to announce his candidacy for lieutenant governor. Controller Kathleen Connell, once talked about as a possible gubernatorial hopeful, intends to announce her reelection bid Thursday.

Ironically, when Feinstein ran for governor the first time in 1990, she had to overcome skepticism that she had sufficient “fire in the belly” to make the race. This time, with so many urging her to run, she acknowledged that fire was lacking.

“The point is, you really have to want to do this thing,” she told reporters. “This is all-out campaigning 24 hours a day. . . . I’m in the Senate now, so I can’t campaign that way.”

Feinstein, who was brutalized by a free-spending millionaire opponent, Republican Mike Huffington, in her 1994 Senate reelection bid, also acknowledged dread at the prospect of facing another deep-pocketed opponent this year.

Privately, one prominent Democrat who recently discussed the governor’s race with Feinstein said the senator suggested she was amenable to running if Checchi could be talked out of his candidacy. But by last week, when she finally made up her mind, it was evident he was staying put.

Feinstein made clear Tuesday that she had not relished a contest with Checchi, though she expressed confidence she could have prevailed. Rather, she saved her disdain for the political system in general. “The state of the political process in this state does not have a lot to redeem it,” she said. “It is an inordinately difficult and debilitating process. . . . It is not a good process.”

Feinstein’s announcement sent shock waves from Sacramento to Washington, where Democrats and Republicans alike had closely watched her ruminations.

More than a few of California’s congressional Democrats had gone to Feinstein last year urging her to enter the contest, seeing their political futures wrapped up in her fate.

In their vision, she was the key to Democrats winning back the House--a Gov. Feinstein presiding over the redrawing of California congressional districts after 2000 and ramming through the Legislature a plan that would give Democrats--absent from the governor’s office for 16 years--an edge at the polls.

“It’s a major disappointment to Democrats all over the state and the country,” Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Sacramento) said of Feinstein’s decision. “Dianne was the best candidate to run in the general election. This means we are all going to scramble for the most suitable candidate.”

There was even talk of possible retribution from Democrats angry that she not only declined to seek the governorship but held up everyone else as she spent months deciding. “I think a lot of Democrats will be unhappy she waited so long,” Matsui said.

On the brighter side, Democrats said Feinstein’s decision to stay in the Senate could help California at a time when the state has suffered a drain of powerful personnel, from both the White House and Capitol Hill.

“There’s been a lack of seniority, and in the Senate that still matters,” said Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento), who has announced plans to step down after serving 10 terms.

But in an interview Tuesday before her conference call, Feinstein said she realized the only reason she hadn’t ruled out a decision sooner was guilt at the prospect of disappointing fellow Democrats--and that that was the wrong reason to run for governor. “If I were not No. 1 in the polls,” she said, “I would have said no a long time ago.”

Still, Feinstein called her choice the most difficult she has ever made. “There probably has been no decision in my life--personal, political, life and death decisions--that I have put more thought and energy into,” she told reporters.

Reaction from the camps of the two announced Democratic candidates was muted and respectful, despite obvious delight.

“More than most, I have every reason to know how formidable a candidate she can be and how powerful a campaigner she is,” said Davis, whom Feinstein swamped in the 1992 primary for U.S. Senate.

Darry Sragow, the campaign strategist for Checchi, said Feinstein’s decision changes his candidate’s campaign plan “a lot less than people would think.”

“Our overwhelming need is to introduce Al Checchi to the voters of California, because at the start of the campaign, virtually no one knew who he was,” Sragow said. “His decision to run for governor was made irrespective of who else was or wasn’t in the field, so we’re going to move forward.”

Both candidates will benefit from Feinstein’s withdrawal--Davis because he is now the only veteran politician running on the Democratic side, and Checchi because his quest for name identification is easier without the senator dominating headlines in the race.

But neither receives a concrete benefit--Feinstein’s endorsement. Not only did she decline to endorse anyone, she also would not say whether she will support the eventual Democratic nominee. “Well, that’s for a later time,” she said. “I’ll make all my decisions well-known.”

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said that the president respects her choice and that “regaining the governorship in California will remain a high priority for the Democratic Party.”

Feinstein will not be absent from the campaign trail. She said Tuesday that she will mount an immediate effort to raise money for her education initiative, which she hopes to qualify for the November ballot. She said that she must raise $1 million to finance the collection of necessary signatures. “This has my fullest, strongest support and my full commitment,” she said.

Times staff writers Faye Fiore and Jodi Wilgoren in Washington contributed to this story.