Campbell's coming

To the surprise of almost no one, Rep. Tom Campbell (R.-Calif.) last week unveiled an exploratory committee for a possible race for the Republican nomination to oppose Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.) in 2000. Although "exploratory" still technically leaves the door open for Campbell (lifetime ACU rating: 59%) to back out and run for reelection to the House, sources close to the congressman told me his remarks last week were tantamount to a declaration of Senate candidacy and Campbell himself freely discussed the chances that his close friend and ally, State Assemblyman Jim Cuneen, can keep California's San Jose-based 15th District in the GOP column, which many party officials have been worried about. ("All those Democrats, including the mayor of San Jose, who wouldn't run against me are still saying they won't get in the House race," Campbell told me.

"You watch Jim take the House seat-with relative ease, I believe.")

In a state GOP whose party officers and platforms are increasingly conservative, Campbell would at first glance appear to be unacceptable as a Senate nominee. Indeed, he has gained considerable notoriety as one of eight House Republicans to oppose a ban on partial-birth abortions and as a champion of adding human rights (i.e., homosexual rights) to coverage under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Campbell is also one of the midwives of the 1996 statewide initiative, opposed by most conservatives, that created an open primary in California. Thus, in the June 2000 primary all candidates, regardless of party, will appear on the same ballot and the top vote-getters from each party will meet in a November runoff.

Now that the liberal Campbell is presumably running for the Senate, his reason for pushing an arrangement that will allow Democrats to cross over to vote for someone like him in the primary becomes more clear. "And I will be campaigning with an eye to the open primary," Campbell told reporters at Washington's Capitol Hill Club, last week, suggesting that he will not be shy in reminding Democrats and independents of his nonconservative positions.

Right now, it looks as though Campbell will face three opponents decidedly to his right in the Senate primary: Silicon Valley entrepreneur Ron Unz, State Sen. Ray Haines of Riverside, and San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn.

Many Republicans will never forgive nor forget Campbell's hard-hitting (and losing)1992 primary against conservative hero Bruce Herschensohn, when his ads blasted the Los Angeles TV commentator with the opening "Bruce Herschensohn is lying!"-nasty attacks that many thought helped bring about Herschensohn's narrow loss in the fall. Asked about that race last week, the congressman replied, "I'm going to leave the '92 election behind me.''

Would he run similar attack ads against primary opponents next year? "For now, I'm choosing not to do so," he replied. "But obviously, campaigns involve contrasting issue stands between candidates."

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Nov 5, 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved