CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS GOVERNOR : Feinstein Tries Softer Touch in New TV Ads

Boosting her presence on television just days before debating Republican Pete Wilson, Dianne Feinstein today begins airing two commercials that portray her as an architect of change for California.

The new ads--made possible in part by the influx of cash Feinstein has received since a federal judge voided the state’s campaign financing limits--focus on the softer side of her “tough but caring” moniker.

One 30-second commercial extols Feinstein’s support of Proposition 128, the sweeping environmental initiative its backers call “Big Green.” The second features the former San Francisco mayor speaking directly to the camera--and hence to voters--and describing herself as the candidate who will “solve problems” and stand up to special interests in the state.

Strategically, Feinstein’s campaign is seeking to increase her appeal among voters who are growing disenchanted both with their lifestyles in California and with politicians in general.

“She is the candidate of change--we need to get that message out,” Feinstein’s press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, said Tuesday. “There’s no doubt there is an undercurrent of growing frustration in the electorate.”

Wilson’s campaign manager, George Gorton, said Tuesday that three television stations in the state refused to run the ad in a dispute that centered on the advertising rate paid by the campaign. Under federal law, candidates are guaranteed the lowest advertising rate, while initiative campaigns have to pay a higher rate.

The cost of Feinstein’s ad was shared by the candidate and the Proposition 128 campaign but the commercial was placed under the lower rate, Gorton said. “It’s an illegal attempt to buy at a lower rate. . .,” he said.

Representatives of the television stations could not be reached for comment.

The two ads, expected to alternate on television screens across the state, replace a long-running and harder-edged ad that touted Feinstein’s support of the death penalty.

The tone of the new commercials suggests that Feinstein is trying to pull voters to herself, rather than repel them from Wilson, with whom she has engaged in a sometimes vitriolic general election campaign. In contrast to these ads, the first three commercials Feinstein launched after the June primary focused sharply and critically on the Republican U.S. senator.

In particular, Feinstein’s strategists are seeking to change the minds of Californians who may otherwise vote for Wilson because they do not like Feinstein.

In the current ads, Feinstein appears to go out of her way to avoid mentioning Wilson. While expressing her own support for Proposition 128, for example, she does not mention that Wilson opposes the measure.

Wilson too has been running more positive commercials of late, airing throughout last month 30-second spots that largely talked about his desire to curb crime and treat drug abuse.

On Friday, he began airing a commercial that describes him as tough on crime, while seeking to link Feinstein with former California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, a friend of Feinstein.

The new Feinstein ads begin airing just four days before the two candidates for governor meet in their first debate, scheduled for Sunday at KNBC-TV in Burbank.

The 57-year-old Democrat was able to place the ads in part because of bulk fund raising she has done since U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton struck down the $1,000-per-person donation limits previously in effect under Proposition 73.

The judge’s decision allowed Feinstein to receive hefty donations previously unavailable to her, including $150,000 from California Highway Patrol officers.