An eye on the Senate

Press, 1 June 1981, Page 12

An eye on the Senate

By

JOHN HUTCHISON

in San Francisco

Mr Leo McCarthy is carefully fingering the pulse of the Democratic Party in California. He would like to be a United States senator. The powerful but capricious currents of Californian politics caught him in a riptide late last year, wrenching him out of the commanding position of speaker of the Assembly, one of the two state legislative houses. He had been challenged for .that office by a party, colleague. The struggle ended unexpectedly when a third Democrat moved into the turmoil and neatly took the speakership for himself. Mr McCarthy, a New Zealander by birth and a skilful politician by years of campaigning here, was certainly . checked in his promising ambi'tions when lie lost the speaker’s post, often called the second most influential elective office in the state. But he took the defeat, in good grace • and maintained the respect of his party and constituency. He must be’ regarded as a serious

contender in the contests ahead. There are two. First is the Democratic primary next year. His most daunting opponent will likely be the Governor, Mr Jerry Brown. Mr Brown has not formally announced, but he seems intent on standing for the senate. Both men are formidable campaigners. Both are capable fund-raisers among the wellheeled Democrats whose support is essential in statewide politics here. Mr Brown, say the polls, is the front runner now. Mr McCarthy has sought professional advice from a leading poll-taker who has told him that a careful survey shows, however, that Mr Brown’s voter support has weaknesses which Mr McCarthy can -exploit, and that the gap can be closed. The one-time New Zealander (his parents brought him to San Francisco when he was four years old, in 1934) has met recently with Democratic movers, shakers and money men.

Mr Peter Hart, the pollster with an impressive national clientele, is telling such meetings that Mr. McCarthy is a realistic challenger to Mr Brown. If that argument is persuasive, the former speaker will have the funds he needs.

The primary will settle the Democratic contest. Simultaneously, the Republicans will choose their candidate. Mr Samual I. Hayakawa, 75 years old and sometimes ridiculed for falling asleep in meetings, is the incumbent. He has not said he will retire, but the Republican Party thinks he should, which probably means that he will. His party has several aspirants to the seat. Several of them have solid voter appeal. The winner among them may make the road to the November, 1982, elections a very rocky one for Mr Brown, or Mr McCarthy, or some other Democratic candidate who has not yet emerged in the struggle just beginning for the race to Washington.