Primary Elections

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.

Al Checchi invested $40 million in his campaign--and lost. Woody Woodworth spent $5 on a race. His candidate came out on top. "Daily, I receive letters, mostly from Washington, D.C.," Woodworth wrote in response to a fund-raising appeal from state Treasurer Matt Fong, who last week won the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in November. " 'Please send us $25, $50, $100 or $------.' First for one damn thing, then another, then another."

A complete tally shows that state Assemblywoman Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk) officially won the Democratic nomination for the 34th Congressional District by 618 votes, the county registrar-recorder's office in Norwalk announced Wednesday. Napolitano received 30,134 votes to 29,516 for James Casso in the June 2 primary, a registrar spokeswoman said. Napolitano will face three candidates in November for the right to replace retiring Rep. Esteban Torres (D-Pico Rivera).

For the first time, Democrat and independent voters in Orange County's intense 46th Congressional District primary election are getting calls and visits from unexpected persons: Republican candidates. Thanks to the state's new open-primary system--which lets voters choose from all candidates regardless of party affiliation--GOP hopefuls in the 46th are committed to courting so-called "crossover" votes.

When Rep. Jane Harman announced her surprise bid for California's Democratic gubernatorial nomination in February, she said she was not ready to offer specifics on how to solve the state's problems. Now, the three-term South Bay congresswoman says she never will. At least not before the election. "I hope it's about who is this human being who's running for governor. . . . What kind of a leader would they be?"

Computers, the source of one gargantuan Y2K problem, may help solve another. The so-called millennium bug, or Y2K problem, involves the coding that runs many computer programs. Unless rewritten, these codes will interpret the year 2000 as "00," which could mean either 1900 or 2000. Havoc is feared. But California has a unique Y2K problem, involving the 2000 presidential primaries. No one expects havoc, but it has turned into quite a headache.

Two years after Californians voted to scrap a partisan presidential primary, they now get to choose whether to bring it back. Gov. Pete Wilson signed a bill Monday that places the measure on the Nov. 3 ballot. Changes to the primary must be approved by the Legislature, governor and voters. In 1996, voters gave themselves the right to back any candidate in the primary for a particular office, regardless of party affiliation. But state Sen.

Gov. Forrest "Fob" James Jr., who has championed school prayer with the kind of states' rights fervor not heard in the South since the issue was race, won a Republican primary runoff Tuesday against a businessman who accused him of embarrassing the state. After a bitter name-calling campaign between James and Winton Blount, Democrats played a big role in the runoff, which was open to anyone who voted in the June 2 primary.

Election officials have a message for California voters: Get ready for the longest primary election ballot in the state's history on June 2. In California's first-ever "blanket" primary, voters will be able to select among all candidates from all parties and will confront a vast array of choices--19 for governor alone. Toss in an estimated 16 candidates for U.S.

Susan Riegel Harding once taught elementary school pupils about the roots of American democracy. Now she's about to provide the entire state with a civics lesson. In the next few months, voters will be introduced to the blanket primary, in which Republicans can vote for Democrats and Democrats for Republicans--or anyone else--and independents can cast ballots in partisan primary contests. Friends describe the 56-year-old San Diego financial planner as the "godmother" of the new form of primary.