CONVERSATION WITH TOM CAMPELL

Republican senatorial candidate Rep. Tom Campbell visited our
Editorial Board Thursday to give us an update on his campaign and his
chances. His first priority was to remind us that Sen. Feinstein was a
co-author (with Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch) of a methamphetamine
bill that would give the government a foot in the door to control
freedom of speech on the Internet and shut Web sites down on the
say-so of a bureaucrat. We've deplored the bill before and hope it
doesn't pass.

Rep. Campbell, despite being a decided underdog, was upbeat. He argued
that the way Sen. Feinstein had chosen to campaign - choosing not to
debate or to campaign actively until just recently - might actually
help him. "In a three-week sprint I might just break through," he told
us. "If it had been a six-month marathon, with her spending a million
a month and with her incumbency advantage and fundraising lead I
probably couldn't have matched her." He says an internal poll three
weeks ago showed him "only" nine points behind.

Rep. Campbell has chosen interesting issues to highlight, especially
for a Republican. His TV commercials emphasize the failure of the war
on drugs and the need for alternative approaches. He has been a vocal
opponent of the $1.3 billion commitment to Colombia, ostensibly to
fight drug traffickers, which could get the U.S. embroiled in a
long-term civil war. "I don't know of any American who really thinks
we can solve our domestic drug problems by fighting a foreign war," he
told us.

Besides the drug war, he says he differs with Sen. Feinstein over
federal spending (the National Taxpayers Union rates him as the most
frugal member of the House), his commitment to a permanent moratorium
on federal Internet taxes, his opposition to federal censorship on the
Internet, his opposition to the economic sanctions against Iraq and
his commitment to the War Powers Act, which supposedly guarantees a
role for Congress in committing U.S. troops overseas.

"The most fundamental difference is that she will go to the federal
government first when she perceives a social or economic problem,
whereas I view the federal government as a last resort," Rep. Campbell
told us.

Rep. Campbell hasn't been entirely consistent by our lights. He
supported the federal assault-weapons ban. We believe his support of
Prop. 39, which would reduce the two-thirds threshold needed to pass
school bonds, is unwise. But there are clear differences between him
and Sen. Feinstein. We'll report on Sen. Feinstein's positions later
this week. We'll see Nov. 7 which approach California voters prefer.