San Francisco Chronicle - Feinstein Towers Over Race Hardley Mentioned,Veteran Senator has Wide Appeal, Reputation as an Honest Broker

San Francisco Chronicle - Feinstein Towers Over Race Hardley Mentioned,Veteran Senator has Wide Appeal, Reputation as an Honest Broker

While Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein might argue with the political gurus who have dubbed her the most popular politician in California, so far the former San Francisco mayor's bid for a third full term in the Senate has been more coronation than campaign.

Even with the weather-beaten "Dianne 2006" bumper strip sitting lonely on the back of her jet-black Lexus hybrid, it's nearly impossible to tell that Feinstein is in the final weeks of her re-election effort, especially when she's giving the type of nonpartisan, good-government speeches most politicians save for nonelection years.

"Everything's a campaign event,'' the 73-year-old said with a shrug. "But that's the campaigning I like best, talking about real programs to real people.''

Whether it's speaking about global warming to Silicon Valley CEOs in San Jose, sharing stories with California anti-cancer activists in Washington or opening the new Dianne Feinstein Elementary School in San Francisco, the senator usually finds herself on friendly ground.

Last week, for example, Feinstein gave the keynote address at a global warming conference co-sponsored by Novellus and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, yet never once mentioned her re-election campaign. That didn't stop Godfrey Sullivan, chief executive officer of Hyperion software in Santa Clara and a self-described "Texas Republican,'' from making his own pitch for the senator.

Feinstein, Sullivan said in his introduction, "has a reputation as an independent, commonsense voice for California, willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats.''

That's a recipe for political success, said Tim Hodson, executive director of the Center for California Studies at Cal State Sacramento.

"Dianne Feinstein hasn't started running for re-election yet because she doesn't have to,'' Hodson said. "She represents the type of moderate, pragmatic officeholder that Californians have been in love with for 100 years.''

It's an image Feinstein is comfortable with.

"I am what I am,'' the senator said. "I want to concentrate on those things that make people's lives better, things that are doable and make a difference.''

Feinstein plays the inside political game, working behind the scenes to craft legislation and push it through Congress. Her efforts to protect 7 million acres of California desert, increase the state's water supply and save the Headwaters Forest all required a willingness to play the honest broker to competing interests.

"I'm not into messages,'' Feinstein said. "I'm into getting it done with real and practical pieces of legislation.''

Her efforts have brought support from groups that don't usually back Democrats. The California Farm Board, for example, endorsed her for re-election in 2005, long before the group knew who her opponent would be.

"Sen. Feinstein genuinely cares about the future of farms and ranches,'' said then-President Bill Pauli.

It wasn't always that way, Feinstein recalled. During her unsuccessful 1990 campaign for governor and her 1992 run to finish the final two years of the Senate term of Gov. Pete Wilson, farm interests wouldn't have anything to do with a Democrat from San Francisco.

"When I ran for governor and went to the Central Valley, people wouldn't even talk to me,'' she said. "But I showed them I was concerned and was willing to work on their issues.''

Voters are tired of the partisan gridlock that is seen too often in Washington, Feinstein said.

"I believe people sent me back as a real Democrat who was willing to work with Republicans to get things done,'' she said.

That has brought complaints from other factions of the Democratic Party. Bloggers who post on the Daily Kos Web site, a haven for liberal Democrats, have dismissed Feinstein as a DINO, or Democrat In Name Only, because of her votes for the Iraq war and the Patriot Act, as well as her general willingness to cooperate with Republicans. A number of people on the site called for Cindy Sheehan, an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq, to challenge Feinstein in the primary.

Todd Chretien, the 36-year-old Green candidate for Senate, is basing his campaign on the premise that Feinstein is too conservative for California.

"If you're against the war and want something to change, you can't vote for someone who will continue the war,'' the Oakland resident said. "Dianne Feinstein lives in San Francisco, and if there was ever a senator who doesn't represent her city, it's Dianne Feinstein.''

While Feinstein has voted for funding for the war in Iraq, she has called for President Bush to begin pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq.

A Field Poll taken in June 2005 showed just how popular Feinstein is with voters. Fifty-six percent of likely voters support her re-election, and she crushed Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, 62 percent to 32 percent, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 56 percent to 38 percent, in hypothetical matchups.

An August Field Poll showed that 60 percent of California voters had a favorable impression of the senator, giving her a more positive image than any other politician in the state.

Feinstein's popularity made it nearly impossible for California Republicans to attract a big-name candidate to challenge the senator. In the end, former state Sen. Richard Mountjoy was unopposed in the GOP primary.

Mountjoy, 74, spent eight years as mayor of Monrovia in Los Angeles County and more than 20 years in the state Legislature. He made it clear to GOP leaders that he was willing to drop his primary campaign if they found a stronger or better-financed candidate.

They didn't, which meant that Mountjoy has had to match his $21,000 campaign bankroll against the more than $11 million Feinstein has raised. That has forced the GOP candidate to run a bare-bones statewide effort featuring little more than a Web site, an answering machine and a candidate willing to drive around the state to talk with voters.

Mountjoy is opposed to abortion and supports Bush's policy in Iraq. Listed on the ballot as an immigration-control consultant, he was the author of 1994's controversial Proposition 187, which would have barred undocumented residents from almost all public services.

Mountjoy said the Democratic incumbent is too supportive of illegal immigration, too anxious to leave Iraq and too liberal on virtually every issue for most Californians.

"If we get our message out, we'll win,'' he said.

But with no money for television or most other types of advertising, Mountjoy has to be content to drive from event to event, mostly talking to small groups of Republicans. He knows that's not a blueprint for victory in November, but he is still campaigning.

"If I got discouraged in every campaign I was in, I'd never have gotten anywhere,'' he said. "I'll just run the campaign as best I can with what I've got.''

Even with the prospect of a landslide victory looming, Feinstein late last week opened a multimillion-dollar television ad campaign that will run across the state until election day.

But the senator is thinking beyond her own campaign. She has given $1 million from her fund to the Democrats' national effort to win control of the Senate and is raising money for Democratic candidates.

A Democratic Senate majority would put Feinstein in a far better position to do something about the issues that concern her.

"I really want to use my time well,'' she said. "I want to see what the need of the future is and do it."

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