CAMPBELL'S STANCE IS DIFFICULT FOR SOME IN GOP TO SWALLOW

REDDING -- It doesn't always happen at the same time, and it's not
always about the same subject. But put U.S. Senate candidate Tom
Campbell in a room of fellow Republicans, and at some point they risk
choking on their evening hors d'oeuvres or breakfast potatoes.

Take these nuggets from the Silicon Valley congressman's 48-hour
campaign swing this week through Del Norte, Humboldt and Shasta counties:

On the Brady Bill's waiting period before an individual can buy a
handgun: ``Is it wise? Sure it is.''

On immigration: ``I'm going to disappoint you -- I was opposed to
(Proposition) 187'' -- an anti-illegal immigration initiative passed
in 1994.

On drugs: ``I would let the people of California have medical
marijuana.''

On service in the military: It should make ``no difference whether
you're gay or straight.''

Tough words for GOP audiences to hear, Campbell knows, but words he
believes give him a credible chance to become the first California
Republican to win a U.S. Senate election in 12 years. Increasingly,
many party members believe Campbell is correct.

``My case is this,'' Campbell, 47, told a group of well-heeled donors
at a Eureka timber company owner's estate Monday evening. ``I have the
best chance to beat Sen. (Dianne) Feinstein. You won't find a more
fiscally conservative Republican. If we can focus on what unites us .
. . why then do we have to emphasize where we disagree on the
so-called social issues?''

In his campaign pitches, the pro-choice Republican generally does not
raise social concerns, a set of issues on which he labels himself a
``moderate'' but where he fairly can be described as liberal.
Inevitably, though, someone asks, and Campbell tells them exactly
where he stands.

Not the party lines

These stands -- pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control --
distinguish Campbell sharply from most of the Republican field.
Leading contenders Ray Haynes, a state senator from Riverside; Bill
Horn, a San Diego County supervisor; and J.P. Gough, a Santa Ana
businessman, all clearly are more conservative -- perhaps too
conservative to win a statewide election.

``It's the eternal struggle of the California Republican Party.
Pragmatism vs. ideology,'' said McGregor Scott, the Shasta County
district attorney and a Campbell supporter. ``It's been that way for
years, for decades, and it'll be that way for the next 100 years.''

Nancy Jones, a member of the Del Norte County Republican Central
Committee, rushed up to Campbell when he arrived for a meeting Sunday
evening in Crescent City, asking him for ``any transcripts of the
speech you gave before the impeachment vote.''

Jones said Campbell's decision to vote to impeach President Clinton
``won me over.'' Although she doesn't like some of his views, ``We
have to vote for and support whoever can win,'' she said. ``It's very
dangerous if we lose either the presidency or the House or the Senate.''

Dennis Pochert, 55, a Redding plumbing contractor who attended a
breakfast with Campbell on Tuesday, clearly was disturbed by the
candidate's positions on gun control and gays. But even he is having
second thoughts about what the best course would be in the March 7
primary.

``I may be more inclined to vote for someone more in line with my
feelings, but I can't rule Mr. Campbell out,'' Pochert said.

Campbell's opponents hope to sow doubts with voters like
Pochert.

Haynes' principal campaign strategy so far has been to attack
Campbell's liberalism, a theme Horn strategists promise to adopt
shortly. Literature Haynes volunteers are distributing lumps together
Campbell's and 46einstein's positions on issues such as ``traditional
marriage,'' ``parental choice in education'' and ``benefits to illegal
aliens'' in contrast to his own.

In a race that has garnered almost no coverage in the media and little
public attention, opinion polls show Campbell leading the Republican
field in California's open primary.

A Field Poll released this week gave Campbell 14 percent, with Horn at
4 percent, Haynes at 3 percent and Gough at 2 percent. Feinstein
overwhelmed the Republicans with 55 percent support, including more
than one in five Republican voters. In a head-to-head match-up,
Feinstein led Campbell 55 percent to 37 percent, although Campbell
said his internal polling showed the Democrat's lead at just 11
percentage points.

No spoiler on horizon

Campbell figures that in the primary, he has a significant advantage
compared to what happened in his first bid for the Senate in 1992,
when he and the late Sonny Bono split moderate Republicans, and
conservative commentator Bruce Herschensohn emerged as the party
nominee before losing to Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Whether one of the Southern California competitors can break from the
pack largely will depend on their bank accounts.

Statewide races in California are won or lost on the airwaves,
primarily through 30-second television commercials. No candidate has
aired a commercial yet.

Republican strategist Ken Khachigian, who is not involved in this
race, estimates that Horn or Haynes would have to spend $2.5 million
to $3 million ``to break through, and that's if everything went their
way. I'd probably feel like I need four or five million.''

It's difficult to gauge at this point just how much money the
candidates will have available. A Campbell spokesman said that in a
report due to be made public on Jan. 31, the congressman will show
$1.2 million in cash on hand as of Dec. 31.

The Haynes campaign refused to reveal any information about its
fundraising activities, although several party observers said they
believed it had not gone well. Gough said he did not expect to buy
television time.

Horn, who has amassed considerable personal wealth through developing
and owning apartment complexes, said he collected about $1 million
last year, including $300,000 of his own money.

``Bill has the ability to do substantially more,'' said Scott Taylor,
his consultant. ``It's a factor of money. Will Bill Horn put the money
forward to say Tom Campbell is a liberal, not a moderate?''

46ront-runner's promise

Campbell has promised to run a strictly positive campaign, a luxury
available to a front-runner.

During his northern venture this week, Campbell met not only with
Republican groups but also held sessions with environmental leaders in
two counties and spoke at an NAACP-sponsored Martin Luther King Jr.
Day celebration in Eureka, an event that featured a white-haired
rock-and-roll rabbi singing Van Morrison's ``Into the Mystic.''

Campbell's King Day talk emphasized the need to ``bring justice and
fairness to international issues,'' particularly when it comes to
Africa, where he's traveled frequently.

``Imagine the foreign policy of the United States if we were known as
a country that gave on the basis of need, that when we saw river
blindness, we gave money so that children could have eye drops to
clean the water that carries the parasite,'' Campbell said. ``And we
were known for that instead of known that we give money to our
political friends when they support us.''

In a later interview, Campbell said he would shift much of the nearly
$1 billion in economic -- but not military -- assistance the U.S.
provides Israel to Africa.

The Eureka audience loved what they heard.

``He's a Republican?'' asked Nikki Jardin, 33, a forest service
employee who dropped her Democratic registration to become
independent. ``I've never quite heard a Republican speak like that.''

Betty Segal, 81, an activist and Democrat from Arcata who was
collecting signatures for an initiative to get rid of the death
penalty, was delighted to learn she could vote for Campbell in the
open primary. With Feinstein facing little opposition, many Democrats
are expected to cross party lines to support Campbell.

``I'd like to at least make this a horse race,'' Segal
said.

Yet questions remain about whether Campbell's appeal to Democrats and
independents will pay off in the fall.

``Tom Campbell is certainly better than George W. Bush,'' said Bob
Madgic, a former Los Altos school administrator who retired to a home
on the Sacramento River in Shasta County. ``But would I trust Tom
Campbell over Dianne Feinstein? Absolutely not.''