Susan Golding

Her effort hamstrung by a lack of money, San Diego Mayor Susan Golding withdrew Thursday from the race for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate and said she will instead serve out her term as head of the state's second-largest city. Golding's move followed days of rumors sparked by her inability to make much headway despite months of laboring in her Senate campaign. At a hastily arranged nighttime news conference, Golding bowed out amid cheers from 75 supporters and staff members.

San Diego Mayor Susan Golding tiptoed Monday into the race for U.S. Senate, ending months of hesitation by forming an exploratory committee as a first step toward challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer. The low-key announcement, made via press release, makes for the third announced or all-but-announced Republican candidate lining up to face Boxer next year.

California Secretary of State Bill Jones announced Thursday that he has decided to run for reelection next year and will not seek to become the Republican challenger to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Jones' announcement was the first of many expected over the next few months as political figures sort out who will run for what in 1998--a year in which a Senate seat and the governorship will be at stake.

As a metaphor for the strange tenor of the race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, it was hard to pass up this one: State Treasurer Matt Fong, opening a news conference before a fund-raiser for his exploratory Senate campaign, marched toward his microphone-laden podium. And then he marched right past it, planting himself off to the side, where no one could pick up his words.

With Gov. Pete Wilson a lame duck with a diminished political star, a new generation of Republican leaders has emerged in California, led by state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren and San Diego Mayor Susan Golding. Lungren, 49, came out of this month's Republican National Convention with an enhanced image as a national political comer and the GOP heir apparent to Wilson, who cannot seek reelection because of term limits and who now says he will not run for the U.S. Senate in 1998.

As delegates, reporters and others arrive for the Republican National Convention, they are greeted at the airport by three welcoming banners and three movie poster-sized pictures of Mayor Susan Golding. Along with giving San Diego the attention it has long craved, the GOP convention affords an opportunity nonpareil for its Republican mayor, whose name is being circulated by insiders as a possible candidate in 1998 either for governor or the Senate seat held by Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Mayor Susan Golding has been easily reelected to a second four-term by winning 78% of the vote against five largely unknown opponents, final vote totals showed Wednesday. Golding, a Republican, took credit for San Diego's drop in crime and for making the city more "business-friendly." During the campaign, Golding declined to promise to serve the entire term, leading to speculation that she may run for the Senate in 1998 against Democrat incumbent Barbara Boxer.