Campbell’s Campaign for Senate Finally Begins to Look Like One

It has taken longer than many expected but after weeks of floundering, Rep. Tom Campbell’s campaign to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein may have finally found its course.

The operative word is may.

Last week’s endorsement by U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the hiring of more top aides to former Gov. Pete Wilson and an outreach effort to young voters suggest that the iconoclastic Republican from San Jose finally has a campaign structure and strategy in place.

“Although Campbell clearly has his work cut out for him . . . it looks like he is bringing in a wealth of talent and experience to his campaign,” said Mark Baldassare, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

One of California’s most durable and best known politicians, Feinstein won 1 million more votes than either of the main presidential contenders, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, in the March primary. And according to a Times exit poll, she bested Campbell in every demographic category.

But Feinstein is hardly invincible. She easily won her first race for U.S. Senate in 1992, but barely survived an enormously costly race in 1994 against a congressman who, while rich, was less formidable as a candidate than Campbell. And in her other statewide race, she was defeated by Wilson for governor in 1990.

Apparently convinced that she can be beaten if the political stars are in alignment, Campbell in recent weeks has set aside his penchant for spontaneity and has been much more deliberate in mounting a more structured, if still unorthodox, campaign.

He hired a 22-year-old campaign manager, Andrea Jones, daughter of California’s Secretary of State Bill Jones. Her role will be that of a day-to-day organizer versed in attracting young voters; she was national youth coordinator for McCain’s spirited campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.

And Campbell has made it clear that he is hinging much of his campaign’s hope for success on attracting the young voters and others who flocked to McCain.

“I think I have to--and I will--succeed in reaching out to people who have not been involved in the political process before,” Campbell said after a Bay Area news conference with McCain last week.

“That’s not only young voters . . . but also disaffected voters,” said Campbell, who also shot a campaign commercial with McCain.

For that effort to bear fruit, Campbell’s campaign officials acknowledge, he must also bring in advisors who are battle tested in California’s brand of coalition politics.

Campbell has enlisted a half-dozen of Wilson’s former advisors, including strategists Joe Shumate and George Gorton, communications director Sean Walsh and speech writer Bill Whelan. These Wilson insiders have strong connections to California’s big GOP contributors and, like Feinstein’s political team, have worked together often in managing campaigns.

“The idea is simple,” said Suhail Khan, who will switch from being Campbell’s press secretary to being his executive assistant. “We have a successful network of experienced professionals from the Wilson camp . . . [and] we want to infuse in our campaign the excitement and enthusiasm Sen. McCain brought to politics.”

Feinstein’s campaign insists that no combination of surrogates can bring voters to a candidate they do not already support.

“It is the candidate that people judge,” said Feinstein’s campaign manager, Kam Kuwata. “You can have a number of operatives, but all they can do is help communicate the message put forward by the candidate.”

Perhaps Campbell’s biggest challenge is to raise his name identification with voters.

“Campbell is going to have to invent himself . . . [because] most Californians don’t even know who he is, let alone what he stands for,” said Baldassare. “He has both the challenge and the opportunity to represent himself as an outsider.”

The longest general election campaign in recent California history will give Campbell plenty of time to sort that out, his advisors say.

“Tom Campbell is assembling a team that can--and has--beaten Dianne Feinstein in the past,” said Walsh. “We are not all on the playing field yet. But put it this way: We are coming out of the locker room.”