FEINSTEIN IS TOP CHOICE FOR SENATE

HAVE you heard that there's a race for the U.S. Senate on the Nov. 7 ballot?

We'd bet that more California voters know about the contest between Hillary
Clinton and Rick Lazio in New York than about the one here between the
incumbent Democrat, Dianne Feinstein, and the Republican challenger, U.S.
Rep. Tom Campbell of Silicon Valley.

Feinstein and Campbell are two very able candidates. But that has not been
enough to create a lively race.

Feinstein is way ahead in the polls. A broken leg added a physical
justification to the common political tactic of frontrunners lying low and
keeping quiet. Campbell has not been able to raise enough money to force
Feinstein out into the open very often.

This is not an easy choice for us. But on balance we think California will
be better served by sending Feinstein back to Washington.

Feinstein has represented California from the center, working diligently
over the years on projects such as the creation of national parks in the
desert in Southern California and the purchase of the Headwaters redwood
forest.

The mayor of San Francisco before she was elected to the Senate, she
understands the needs of cities. She has been a champion of gun control.

We're confident that for Feinstein, assuring the strength of Social
Security and Medicare would rank ahead of tax cuts as a priority.

In contrast with too much of the Democratic Party, she has been a strong
advocate of trade with China. This support has been a matter of some
contention because of her husband's business activities there. We wish she
had been more open about them. But trade with China is good for America,
California and Silicon Valley. We don't suspect special dealing on her part.

We have plenty of differences with Feinstein. She's taken an overly hard
line on crime. While she has been friendly enough to Silicon Valley, she
has an enthusiasm for regulating the content of the Internet that we find
disturbing.

Campbell has represented Silicon Valley in both the state Senate and in
Congress with distinction. One of the most intelligent and independent
elected officials of our acquaintance, he challenges conventional thinking
about the direction of his party and the course of the country. In
Congress, he butted heads with the House leadership of Newt Gingrich.

With both a law degree and a doctorate in economics, he is an astute
analyst of public policy. He has raised a long-overdue challenge to the war
on drugs, though we don't agree with him that the treatment-before-jail
approach as set forth in Proposition 36 is a wise alternative.

He is a fiscal conservative, an environmentalist, and a social moderate who
is pro-choice on abortion and in favor of gay rights.

As with Feinstein, we have significant disagreements with Campbell. He was
a strong advocate of ending affirmative action through Proposition 209.

He favors cutting the capital gains tax in half. A stimulus to investment
is unneeded and a tax cut for the affluent is unwarranted.

Campbell's stands on principle can turn into an obsession with purity of
process at the expense of larger goals. His effort to invoke the War Powers
Act in connection with Kosovo was unceremoniously dumped by a federal
judge. On the recent vote to extend permanent normal trade relations to
China, he tangled up his free trade principles in a convoluted argument
about China's state-controlled economy, which muddied his eventual support
on this issue critical to Silicon Valley.

California could be well represented by either of these candidates.
Feinstein is a pragmatist who has proven her ability to get things done for
California.