Gray Davis

Does this primary election bode well for Democrats? Does Bill Clinton like interns? Some election results are murky. Not this one. On every important level--governor, senate, propositions--Tuesday's primary was a clear win for Democrats and puts them in excellent position to score big in November. Democrats emerge from the primary with the strongest candidates, plus a huge new political army ready to storm the barricades. Starting at the top.

For winners, losers and viewers, primary election night was thankfully one of the shortest. Virtually every race was decided early because most of the conventional wisdoms of California politics were confirmed: Experience counts; party loyalty is important; money still talks and citizens have no patience with bad government.

After squabbling for two weeks about when, where and how often to square off, gubernatorial candidates Gray Davis and Dan Lungren agreed Tuesday to a series of five debates, beginning next month. Campaign officials met Tuesday at a hotel in Beverly Hills and emerged with an agreement to meet five times: once in July, once in August and three times in September and October. They also agreed that, at some point, Republican state Atty. Gen. Lungren and Democratic Lt. Gov.

A fiercely contested three-way race for governor and a ballot measure aimed at the heart of one of the party's key constituencies spurred Democratic turnout Tuesday, boosting the party's candidates and causes up and down the ballot, according to a Los Angeles Times exit poll. The chief beneficiary appeared to be opponents of Proposition 226, the anti-union initiative. With about half the vote counted, Proposition 226 was heading toward defeat at the polls.

In the most expensive statewide race in American history, California Lt. Gov. Gray Davis defied his party's formerly half-hearted embrace and brushed aside two free-spending millionaires to sweep to the Democratic nomination for governor Tuesday. His victory, setting up a November contest with Republican Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, came as voters were defeating nationally watched Proposition 226, which would have gutted the political influence of organized labor.

A fiercely contested three-way race for governor and a ballot measure aimed at the heart of one of the party's key constituencies spurred Democratic turnout Tuesday, boosting the party's candidates and causes up and down the ballot, according to a Los Angeles Times exit poll. The chief beneficiary appeared to be opponents of Proposition 226, the anti-union initiative. Early returns and exit polls showed Proposition 226 heading toward defeat at the polls.

In the most expensive statewide race in American history, California Lt. Gov. Gray Davis defied his party's formerly half-hearted embrace and brushed aside two free-spending millionaires to sweep to the Democratic nomination for governor Tuesday. His victory, setting up a November contest with Republican Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, came as voters appeared to defeat a nationally watched measure that would have gutted the political influence of organized labor.

California's race for governor, a tossup contest for the nation's largest state, is shaping up with even higher stakes than the choice between Democrat Gray Davis and Republican Dan Lungren. The race has already become a showcase for some of the prospective candidates in the 2000 White House campaign.

With hope and prayers, the 1998 primary campaign raced into the final 48 hours Sunday as candidates scurried from churches to shopping centers to neighborhood sidewalks--anywhere a likely voter might be found. It was politicking distilled to its very essence. The major candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate fell back on tried and tested themes and took their campaigns down well-rutted roads, where they pitched to their parties' most faithful supporters.