SNEAK PEEK AT ANTI-LUNGREN AD

And candidates use Democrats' session to line up support

With the loyalties of rank-and-file Democrats divided among three
candidates for governor, state party leaders opened their convention
yesterday with an all-out attack on Attorney General Dan Lungren, the
all-but-certain GOP gubernatorial nominee.

State Party Chairman Art Torres unveiled a television commercial planned to
air before the June 2 primary that depicts Lungren as a statue that cracks
and falls apart. The spot, which intones that Lungren is ``not all he's
cracked up to be,'' attacks him on tobacco, education, for opposing
abortion even in the case of rape and incest, and for balking on controls
on firearms.

``We want to define him before he defines himself,'' Torres said of
Lungren, who faces only medical marijuana advocate Dennis Peron of San
Francisco in the GOP primary. ``After a lifetime of extremist views, Dan
Lungren's positions are chiseled in stone.''

But while party leaders declared Democrats unified, the three candidates
for governor -- Representative Jane Harman, businessman Al Checchi and
Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis -- conducted an intense lobbying campaign
for volunteers and supporters for the campaign. Their campaigns each set up
booths, deluged delegates with literature, and ran continuous loops of
campaign videos.

``Gray's been here 25 years, Checchi has a big booth. . . . we just want to
say hello,'' said Kam Kuwata, Harman's campaign strategist, as he watched
visitors take literature detailing her positions on the economy and crime.

In early evening, Harman got her first taste of the intensity as she worked
a crowded cocktail party hosted by the women's caucus. Despite her status,
Harman was never introduced and finally left. ``They're playing hardball,''
Kuwata said later.

Organizers of the caucus professed no official hard feelings toward Harman.
But the president of the caucus, Jane Small of Los Angeles, made no secret
of her support for Davis.

Small, disabled with scoliosis, argued that Harman was co-author of
``terrible legislation'' in Congress that would allow local governments to
overrule construction of group homes for disabled people.

``Gray's been really good to us,'' Small said.

But some were disappointed. ``I supported Gray Davis until Harman got in,''
said Stella Lopez, a delegate from Stockton who came to hear her. ``I think
she can do the job.''

Harman later spoke to the packed women's caucus meeting, where she outlined
her positions on education, crime and the economy.

The convention is required by law, but it is not required to do anything.
Thus, it becomes a stage for political theater in which candidates show
their stuff to politically active Democrats whose backing can translate
into votes and volunteers back home.

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, likely to face a well-financed Republican
challenger in November, will speak to the convention today, as will Vice
President Al Gore, who considers California crucial to his chances of
winning the White House in 2000.

Bob Mulholland, campaign adviser to the Democratic Party, said he expects
aggressive efforts to paint the combination of Lungren and businessman
Darrell Issa -- the party's current front-runner for the GOP nomination to
face Boxer -- as ``the evil twins'' who could make up ``the most extreme
Republican ticket in this century.''

Tomorrow morning, the three gubernatorial hopefuls will face the delegates,
offering the first public indication of how party activists view the
candidates.

Many of the delegates are affiliated with organized labor -- wearing the
uniform of silky jackets showing membership in the sheet metal workers,
operating engineers and school employees unions.

Davis has already won endorsements from many labor groups, but wealthy
Harman and Checchi, a multimillionaire corporate takeover artist, have
leaped ahead of him in the most recent Field Poll.

Harman, who once called herself ``the best Republican in the Democratic
race'' for governor, and Checchi, whose $12 million worth of television ads
fail to mention that he is a Democrat, are a reflection of the new
political reality -- the open primary.

For the first time, voters of any party will be able to select candidates
from any party.

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A18