CAMPBELL DRUG STANCE COSTING HIM SUPPORT

SACRAMENTO -- Republican Senate candidate Tom Campbell is starting to pay a
political price for his unorthodox positions on drug policy.

Last week, Campbell lost the endorsement of a Republican-oriented crime
victims' political action committee in part because of his drug policy
positions. The group opted to back Democratic incumbent Dianne Feinstein.

During the campaign, Campbell has highlighted his opposition to the war on
drugs and his support for Proposition 36, a measure that would place some
people with drug convictions in treatment rather than jail. Feinstein
opposes the measure.

His views put him to the left of many Democrats and far to the left of
Republicans. The loss of the endorsement represents the first concrete
evidence that his views are alienating conservatives.

But Campbell, rather than downplaying the drug issue, plans to highlight
his belief that treatment and rehabilitation should be the focus of drug
policy rather than punishment and interdiction, said his senior strategist,
Sean Walsh.

"Feinstein doesn't have the political courage to suggest a different
approach to drugs," Walsh said.

Crime Victims United, a political action committee, decided to back
Feinstein rather than Campbell because of the incumbent's record and the
challenger's views on drugs, said the group's chairwoman, Harriet Salarno.

Salarno said her board, which opposes Proposition 36, was "astonished" in
June when Campbell became one of few Republicans to back the measure.

"We were very surprised," she said. "He should have done his homework."

Salarno said the group was endorsing Feinstein also because of her support
for adding a crime victims' bill of rights to the U.S. Constitution.

Though officially bipartisan, the victims' organization has leaned toward
the GOP in the past, endorsing Republicans such as former Gov. Pete Wilson,
former Attorney General Dan Lungren and attorney general candidate Dave
Stirling.

The group's endorsement does not come with any money, because the
organization does not operate a federal political action committee, Salarno
said. But many politicians have prominently advertised support from the
organization because of the political appeal of crime victims.

Crime Victims United, which has contributed about $140,000 to state
politicians, boasts that 75 percent of the candidates it endorses win.

Feinstein said she was not surprised by support from victims and law
enforcement organizations. Besides Crime Victims United, she has backing
from the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, the Peace Officers
Research Association and the California Police Chiefs Association.

"I've supported them, and they've supported me," she said.

Feinstein has also won support from police groups because of her efforts to
pass the federal assault-weapon ban.

Campbell, a Silicon Valley congressman, spoke at two alternative
conventions in August, saying that the $1.3 billion the United States is
spending on military aid to Colombia to reduce the flow of drugs would be
better spent on treatment.

"It's time we started helping people by giving them treatment instead of
sweeping them under the rug by locking them away or starting another
Vietnam," he said.

Campbell, who opposes legalizing drugs, said local authorities should have
wide latitude to experiment with innovative ways to reduce the harm of
addiction. He supports allowing local governments to give drugs to addicts
in a controlled setting.

Feinstein, by contrast, has far more traditional views.

"You cannot take addicts and rehabilitate them by giving them drugs," she said.

Feinstein also said Proposition 36 would undermine the state's drug courts.

She said the nation has "never properly fought the war on drugs."

The former San Francisco mayor said local authorities have backed
ineffective programs for rehabilitation and said President Clinton has not
put a high priority on continuing former first lady Nancy Reagan's Just Say
No program.

"It did inspire kids, and drug use dropped," she said.

Her campaign consultant, Kam Kuwata, said he hopes that Campbell keeps
talking about drugs.

"When your opponent is doing something that's way out of the mainstream,
you're always happy when he keeps doing it," Kuwata said.