Positivism and the Feinstein Forces Push Harman

TORRANCE —  The first thing that stood out at Rep. Jane Harman’s campaign kickoff Friday was the Feinstein force. Regardless of whether Sen. Dianne Feinstein ever officially endorses Harman for governor, it’s obvious who her favorite is.

Count them--Harman chief strategist Bill Carrick, campaign manager Kam Kuwata, press secretary Colleen Haggerty, issues advisor Mark Kades, legendary insider Roz Wyman--all, in one way or another, Feinstein people.

Feinstein clearly has given the green light for her troops to help Harman. The senator is no friend of the two other Democratic contenders, Lt. Gov. Gray Davis and airline exec Al Checchi, believing both took uncalled-for shots at her when she was pondering the race.

The message this sends to Feinstein supporters--contributors, politicians and voters--is that they should give Harman a hard look. They might well regard the Torrance congresswoman as a worthy second choice to Feinstein, who was the projected front-runner before she belatedly decided not to enter the race. Indeed, Harman acknowledges that even she considers herself a second choice to Feinstein.

As crews prepared the outdoor setting for Harman’s kickoff at the Torrance Civic Center, I chatted with Wyman, a very close friend of Feinstein’s and a veteran, savvy pol.

Now 67 and still living in West L.A., Wyman got her political start as a driver for Rep. Helen Gahagan Douglas in a fabled--and losing--1950 Senate race against Rep. Richard Nixon. She later was elected to the L.A. City Council--the first woman and, at age 22, also the youngest member ever. She became a political powerhouse. Currently, she’s on the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee.

Wyman believes “the key” for Harman in the June 2 open primary will be whether she can attract “crossover” Republican women who agree with her on abortion rights.

“I wish we had more time,” she said, noting Harman’s late entry. “Dianne’s always said we spend too much time in campaigns. We’re going to put that to a heck of a test.

“I’ve been in politics almost 50 years and this is the wildest roll of the dice I’ve ever seen.”

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The second thing that stood out at Harman’s kickoff was a stiff breeze that ruffled hair, chilled flesh and generally made people uncomfortable, despite the bright sun. And from this, we learned something about Harman.

We learned first hand that she’s tenacious, a bit stubborn and a risk-taker.

The candidate easily could have moved her event inside to an adjacent, carpeted hall. It would have been a perfect fit for the 150 supporters, high school band, kids with pom-poms and a dozen TV crews--sheltered from the competing sounds of airplanes and the whistling wind.

But Harman gambled that the annoying ocean breeze would die down before the noon ceremony--a roll of the dice--and she lost. No real harm, though. The outdoor scene was more attractive for TV viewers--the most important audience, after all.

There was another reason, however, that Harman was determined to stage this outdoors. She envisioned a neat little ending for her speech--an exit line about “walking on sunshine” that just wouldn’t have been the same inside.

So she opened her remarks by asking the crowd, “How do you like the sunshine?” And she closed 20 minutes later by asserting, “Every Californian who is willing to work hard and play by the rules deserves to be walking on sunshine.”

And the band struck up the old pop hit from Katrina and the Waves, “Walking on sunshine . . . and don’t it feel good.”

This is a woman who knows what she wants and won’t easily be deterred.

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The third thing that stood out was Harman’s positive tone, especially at a news conference that was moved inside. There was no sniping at opponents. There won’t be, she insisted.

Even Republican Gov. Pete Wilson got off easy. The governor should “work a little harder” to pass a school bond proposal, she said, but, by the way, “we have a good working relationship.”

Remember those GOP crossover votes.

What about Checchi? “He’s a friend.”

Davis? “He’s a friend, too.”

“I’m going to run a positive campaign.”

That means no negative TV ads. Harman will try to establish her own positive identity. Attack ads just would invite counterattacks. Let the two men shoot first at her. Then listen for the backfires.

This is very unconventional: A dice-rolling candidate who uses another politician’s troops; the battle, brief and positive. And fun to watch. Maybe even instructive.