CAMPBELL CHALLENGES FEINSTEIN TO DRUG POLICY DEBATE

He Purchases Radio Time - She Just Says No

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell yesterday invited incumbent
Democrat Dianne Feinstein to appear on his statewide Sunday evening radio
program to debate U.S. drug policy, saying it is time Californians hear
from her directly on the issue.

``Sen. Feinstein needs to start speaking for herself,'' Campbell told a
news conference at San Jose State University, adding that he is finding it
``pretty frustrating'' that the only comments from the Feinstein campaign
are coming from campaign manager Kam Kuwata.

``I'm losing my patience responding to people other than her,'' Campbell said.

``He's losing his patience?'' Kuwata said. ``Tell him to chill out and get
a grip.''

Kuwata said Feinstein will not take part in the Sunday radio broadcast, but
that she will debate Campbell.

``We're looking for something along the lines of a statewide TV hookup in
October,'' Kuwata said.

This Sunday, Campbell has the first of three live, call-in radio shows that
will air at 9 p.m. on stations throughout the state.

His campaign bought the radio time for an amount that officials refused to
disclose, after they informed station managers that they had a legal
obligation to make the time available.

For the first broadcast, the lineup includes stations in Sacramento, Los
Angeles, San Diego, Fresno, Modesto, Chico, Redding, Weed (Siskiyou
County), Red Bluff and Willows (Glenn County). A Bay Area station will be
added, but has yet to be finalized, said campaign strategist Sean Walsh.

Other shows are scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 29, and Sunday, Nov. 5, two days
before the election.

After a lengthy and detailed speech Monday in San Francisco on what
Campbell called the failure of the American campaign to combat drugs, he
sent a letter to Feinstein inviting her to join him on the radio broadcast
Sunday and discuss their differences on the issue.

Kuwata dismissed Campbell's policy proposals Monday -- including one to let
local governments establish drug treatment programs that include
distribution of heroin to addicts -- as the kind of idea only fit for a
faculty lounge. Campbell is a Stanford University professor.

If Feinstein is going to attack his proposal, and his profession, then she
ought to do so personally, rather than through surrogates, Campbell said.

``I think it's rather clear, at least now, that she's unwilling to have a
debate on drugs,'' Campbell said.

But Kuwata said Feinstein will debate Campbell once Congress adjourns for
the year.

``The facts are Dianne Feinstein is spending most of her time being a U.S.
senator. He's campaigning, while she's doing what she was elected to do,''
Kuwata said.

During the campaign, Campbell's voting attendance record in the House of
Representatives has dropped to about 50 percent, which Kuwata called ``the
worst in Congress. . . . He has boasted about the fact that he's a fiscal
conservative and he's a watchdog of the taxpayer's money. Yet, he doesn't
show up to work half the time.''

Campbell's invitation to his Sunday program was not extended to the
third-party candidates on the November ballot, and that was fine with Green
Party contender Medea Benjamin.

``He's been very inclusive in the past,'' said Akilah Monifa, Benjamin's
spokeswoman. ``This is not necessarily an exclusion of us. It's just an
attempt to draw Dianne out.''

Besides, Monifa said, on the issue of American drug policy, ``We don't have
fundamental differences with him. Our differences are with her.''