Democratic Primary Race

Phil Schiliro, chief aide to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), has narrowly won his Democratic primary race for a congressional seat on Long Island, N.Y. Schiliro, 35, now faces Republican nominee David A. Levy, a Hempstead town councilman, in the Nov. 3 election. Levy, a party loyalist, easily won the GOP nomination in a newly drawn 4th District, which is considered a Republican stronghold. Schiliro defeated Joan F. Axinn, a political newcomer, with 51% of the vote Tuesday.

Former Vietnam ambassador Douglas "Pete" Peterson dropped out of the Democratic primary race for Florida governor, saying the terrorist attacks had a profound effect on him and he felt he could not participate in a partisan race. At a news conference, the former three-term congressman said that he believes, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, that he may have more to offer the country with his international diplomacy background. Former U.S. Atty. Gen.

Howard Wolfson, who served as one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief strategists in this year's Democratic presidential primary race, has a new employer. Wolfson is joining Fox News as a contributor, the cable news network announced Tuesday, calling him "one of the top communications and political thinkers in the Democratic Party." He will offer political analysis on a number of shows, with his first appearance set for today. Wolfson is not the only Clinton ally on Fox News.

Citing overwhelming Westside voter disapproval of a coastal oil drilling project 2 weeks ago, a former mayoral aide said Tuesday that he wants to continue fighting Occidental Petroleum Corp. by running for the 5th District Los Angeles City Council seat now held by Zev Yaroslavsky. Steve Saltzman, 39, said he supports many of the same environmental and slow-growth issues that in recent years have been pushed by Yaroslavsky and are of increasing concern on the Westside.

Once again someone has brought up a hypothetical argument about a condition that does not exist in order to cast doubt about the morality of choice. This smoke screen regarding sex-selection abortions focuses the debate away from the actual facts and creates hysteria. There are over 200 different kinds of birth defects. Studies conducted by the March of Dimes and the federal government reveal that 97% of pregnant women who have amniocentesis discover that the fetus does not have the condition about which they were concerned and, therefore, carry the pregnancy to term.

Former Democratic Gov. Price Daniel Sr., who served Texas for more than 40 years in all three branches of state government and once said he would rather be governor of Texas than President of the United States, died early Thursday. He was 77 and died after suffering what appeared to be a massive stroke. George Christian, a former press secretary to President Lyndon B. Johnson and to Daniel, said the former governor died at Kirsting Memorial Hospital in Liberty.

State Controller Gray Davis announced his candidacy Wednesday for lieutenant governor, saying he seeks to become "an ambassador of hope" to help turn around California. Assuming the stance of a Sacramento outsider, the veteran Democratic politician assailed leaders of both major parties for failing to solve the state's economic problems. "For most of the last decade, other states were preparing themselves for the economic competition of the 90s," Davis said.

Joining a growing list of contenders, Democratic Sen. Paul B. Carpenter of Cypress says he intends to run next year for the state Board of Equalization seat held for 28 years by retiring Richard Nevins. Carpenter has made no secret of his interest in replacing Nevins on the relatively obscure board which administers the collection of billions of dollars in state and local sales taxes. If Carpenter runs and wins, Gov.

Re "Don't supersede voters," editorial, Feb. 14 The issue of how the Democratic Party superdelegates should vote at their convention boils down to whether they should vote based on their own conscience or interests, or for the candidate with either the most elected pledged delegates or the largest number of actual votes, which may or may not be the same candidate. There's also an issue of whether superdelegates should cast their convention vote based on the primary vote or delegate totals, or those of their respective states and districts.

Rahm Emanuel is using all the political skills he honed as an operative for President Clinton--from tireless campaigning to slick television ads and high-powered endorsements--in the final days of a tight Democratic primary race for Congress. But that may not be enough to overcome a well-financed former state lawmaker who's won her own share of national endorsements in a multimillion-dollar battle that also features another ex-Clinton aide.