Matthew Kip Fong

Matthew (Kip) Fong, a Los Angeles attorney and son of Democratic Secretary of State March Fong Eu, said Tuesday he is considering running for state controller as a Republican. In response to inquiries, his mother sent out a two-page statement declaring that she loves her children and reared them to be independent thinkers but that she would be "neutral" in any election in which her son ran as a Republican.

The White House said Friday that President Bush will nominate Matt Fong, a Republican who was trounced in 1998 when he ran for the Senate against Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), to be Army undersecretary. Fong spent five years in the Air Force after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy and has been an officer in the Air Force Reserve since 1980. Fong is the son of former California Secretary of State March Fong Eu, a Democrat.

Matthew (Kip) Fong, taking aim at generous sources of campaign money developed by his mother, Democratic Secretary of State March Fong Eu, on Tuesday formally announced his candidacy as a Republican for state controller. For Fong, a 36-year-old Los Angeles attorney who switched from the Democratic Party to the GOP two years ago, the campaign will be his first for elective office.

Former state Treasurer Matt Fong, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in 1998 who lost to Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer, has rejoined his former law firm. Fong worked with Los Angeles' Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton from 1985 to 1990, when he ran for state controller. After he lost that race, then-Gov. Pete Wilson appointed him to the State Board of Equalization, a position he held until he was elected state treasurer in 1994.

There sat Republican nominee for state controller Matthew (Kip) Fong in a banquet room full of GOP campaign check-writers, listening to his mother being denounced as "negligent." Fong is the only candidate for high state office in California--perhaps in the nation--whose mother is drawing political fire of her own. In this case, the mother, March Fong Eu, the veteran secretary of state, is seeking reelection to a fifth term.

Outside the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Assn. on Tuesday, lifelong Democrat Alfred Lee chanted his choice for U.S. senator from California--a man who shares his ethnicity but not his political party. "Matt Fong, Matt Fong, Matt Fong," he repeated with the crowd. Inside the 150-year-old building, San Francisco County Supervisor Mabel Teng pledged her support for Fong's opponent, incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Coming from behind, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer has reversed her fortunes, buffed her image and pulled slightly ahead of state Treasurer Matt Fong just 11 days before the election, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll. Enjoying some of the highest job approval and personal favorability ratings of her six years in office, Democrat Boxer leads Republican Fong by 5 percentage points, 49% to 44%, among those considered likely to vote Nov. 3.

U.S. officials are investigating whether an executive of a Chinese-language newspaper in Southern California who sat next to President Clinton at a Democratic fund-raiser in Century City in July is an agent of the Chinese government, according to sources familiar with an ongoing federal inquiry.

Matt Fong, an appointed member of the State Board of Equalization, announced Tuesday his candidacy to succeed Democrat Kathleen Brown as state treasurer in 1994 and to join his mother in one of the eight statewide constitutional offices. Fong, 39, a Republican, is the son of Democrat March Fong Eu, who has been California's secretary of state since 1975 and is expected to seek a fifth term next year.

It's simple logic: If a load of manure falls on you, the best course is to step clear of the mess, not wallow around in it. Amazingly, however, politicians tend to freeze and then wallow. An exception this week was state Treasurer Matt Fong, who gave a textbook demonstration on how to fast-step out of crud. He may not be completely free, depending on unforeseen developments, and there probably will be fallout from political opponents clambering to capitalize on his embarrassment.

Strategists called it a no-brainer. All Matt Fong had to do was go on TV and remind voters why they had never liked the liberal Barbara Boxer and he would be on his way to Washington. Instead, Fong's advertising campaign looked like a soft sales pitch for his personality--nice guy, calm, an inoffensive choice for the U.S. Senate. It was an honorable approach, but it left him open to body blows. And boy did Boxer land some doozies.

Putting a definitive end to 16 years of GOP rule in Sacramento, Democrat Gray Davis won a decisive victory Tuesday over Republican Dan Lungren in the race for California governor, while Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer unexpectedly romped to reelection. Davis, once considered a longshot at best, made history as only the fourth Democratic governor elected in California this century--and only the second without the last name Brown.

In a surge that confirms a broad political realignment in California, Democrats were sweeping to victory Tuesday in the two major contests by redefining issues traditionally owned by Republicans and by peeling off a substantial chunk of the voters who have fueled past GOP success here. A Times survey of voters leaving polling places showed that governor-elect Gray Davis' resounding victory over Republican Atty. Gen.

Their senses flooded with last-minute pitches from frenetic candidates, more than 9 million Californians are expected to vote today, thus putting an exclamation mark to a political season jarred by presidential scandal and salved by a generally peaceable electorate. On the last full day of campaigning, Republican and Democratic candidates barnstormed across California on Monday, each pleading with supporters to show up at the polls.

Entreating voters by television screen and radio and from the pulpit, California's major candidates for office stormed the state Sunday and headed into a final day of campaigning for the election that will dictate the balance of political power here into the next century. The gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidates threw millions of dollars in advertisements onto the state's airwaves, hoping to entice late-deciding voters their way.

Summing up their closing statements for the 1998 campaign season, the four major party candidates for U.S. Senate and governor jabbed at their rivals and pleaded with supporters Saturday to search for every remaining vote. Tension ran highest in the Senate race between Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer and Republican challenger Matt Fong, just as a new poll indicated that the contest is still too close to call.

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.

Former state Treasurer Matt Fong, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in 1998 who lost to Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer, has rejoined his former law firm. Fong worked with Los Angeles' Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton from 1985 to 1990, when he ran for state controller. After he lost that race, then-Gov. Pete Wilson appointed him to the State Board of Equalization, a position he held until he was elected state treasurer in 1994.

BARBARA BOXER * Occupation: U.S. senator * Political Party: Democrat * Age: 57 * Residence: Greenbrae * Education: B.A. in economics, Brooklyn College * Career Highlights: Stockbroker; journalist; Marin County Board of Supervisors, 1976-82; U.S. House of Representatives, 1983-93; U.S.

Barbara Boxer * Schools: Wants to improve public schools by hiring more teachers and building more classrooms. * Vouchers: Opposes school vouchers, saying she wants To help all kids. Vouchers won't fix crumbling schools. Vouchers won't make schools safer for all kids. * Standards: Supports President Clinton's $1.2-billion initiative that demands that schools set higher standards for instructors and students.