Clinton Fallout Could Affect Power Balance in Sacramento

SACRAMENTO — It's campaign season again for most of the California Legislature, only this time there's a new element at work.

Some may ignore it; some fear it's a vote-killer. Some will seize the opportunity it presents.

The "it" is the President Clinton scandal. Never mind that it's 3,000 miles away from state Senate and Assembly races. It is popping up in some crucial contests, including the race that tops Republicans' list of seats they believe they can seize.

Republican Phil Hawkins of Cerritos, trying to unseat Assemblywoman Sally Havice in that intense contest, said he has "been knocking on doors" and finding Democrats repulsed by the Clinton revelations. As the campaign progresses, "we will make reference to it," he said.

Havice's reply: The president has created a "mess" for himself, but "obviously, I'm not Bill Clinton. I'm Sally Havice"--who, she said, has introduced a string of bills, some signed into law, that benefit her blue-collar district.

Three hundred miles away in the San Joaquin Valley, Democrat Sal Cannella said that if the Clinton scandal surfaces in his race to upset the Republican incumbent, he will turn it to his advantage.

"The Clinton thing helps me," Cannella said. "I've been married to the same woman for 34 years. My opponent has been married four times. . . . I'm on the right side of family-values issues."

As theories abound on Clinton's potential election-day impact, Republican strategists are hoping that Democrats will be so disenchanted with Clinton they'll stay home and not vote.

In tight races where fewer than 1,000 votes might make the difference, depressing the Democratic turnout could be crucial, notably in Assembly races. That, coupled with the historic fact that Democrats, in any case, do not vote as regularly as Republicans in nonpresidential elections, gives Republicans in legislative races added hope.

Democrats counter that it is a stretch to attempt to link candidates for the state Assembly and Senate to the wrongful behavior of a Democratic president.

"I don't think it gets down to local races," said Senate leader John Burton, a Democrat from San Francisco. "I think Democrats are going to be so hungry to elect a governor that they will turn out higher than they usually do in a gubernatorial year." High on the November ballot in visibility and TV ad spending is the race for governor between Democrat Gray Davis and Republican Dan Lungren.