Cranston

After two years and a record $20-million worth of persuasion, provocation and bombast--but, oh-so-little exaltation--Californians are just four tantalizing days away from getting their say in the U.S. Senate election.

Perhaps Rep. Bobbi Fiedler of Northridge, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, should read your editorial before she continues to assail Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston for his major mistake in voting against the half-cooked Gramm-Rudman proposal. I admire Cranston for his courage and fortitude. BOB SPERAW Pasadena

Sen. Alan Cranston's (D-Calif.) proposed California Desert Protection Act is on the calendar of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for the scheduling of a hearing and action that would send it to the full Senate. Whether the bill gets a hearing this year, and an opportunity to pass the full Senate, probably depends on California's other U.S. senator, Republican Pete Wilson.

Four former Republican Presidents have sent a letter to President Clinton praising his efforts to help Russia and declaring their support for more aid. "As leaders of the United States, we often . . . called for sacrifices to end the Cold War. The American people always responded," said the letter, signed by Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan and George Bush. "Now we need to make a comparatively small additional investment to win the peace."

A co-defendant in the case of Michael R. Goland, the pro-Israel activist accused of making illegal donations to siphon votes away from U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston's 1986 reelection opponent, has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with government prosecutors in a second trial of Goland. The first Goland prosecution ended in a mistrial July 10 when a federal court jury was unable to agree on a verdict. Asst. U.S. Atty.

SACRAMENTO Sixteen years ago, U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston was running for reelection and was uncontested in the Democratic primary. Same as Gov. Gray Davis today. Cranston was a ferocious fund-raiser and had campaign money to burn. Like Davis. The Republicans had a bruising primary contest to nominate their candidate. Like now. And there was one potential GOP nominee--a moderate--who particularly worried the Democratic incumbent. As there is today. This year, Davis clearly has studied and adopted the late senator's then-novel strategy, while altering the playbook to fit his own situation.

Vowing to do everything in his power to block passage of a bill to protect the California desert, Sen. John Seymour used a procedural tactic Wednesday to prevent a Senate committee from taking its first vote on the 7-year-old proposal. The action makes it unlikely that a compromise on desert legislation will be reached this year. Seymour, a Republican appointee who is running against Democratic candidate Dianne Feinstein to fill one of California's two U.S.

The FBI has concluded an investigation into Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist's involvement with a family trust that was kept secret for more than 20 years from its intended beneficiary, the justice's disabled brother-in-law, and the result is not expected to threaten Rehnquist's nomination as chief justice, sources said Wednesday. The FBI report, requested by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.