Rep. Jane Harman, a moderate Marina Del Rey Democrat and a graduate of Smith College and the Harvard Law School, entered the fray and filled the gap, supporters say, left by the last-minute decision of odds-on favorite Sen. Dianne Feinstein to withdraw from the race.

Harman, a supporter of the senator, is similar to Feinstein in many ways: She's wealthy, socially liberal and fiscally conservative and she's married to a wealthy entrepreneur. Indeed, one of Feinstein's top political strategists, Bill Carrick, has signed on as Harman's campaign chief, giving credence to the speculation that Harman was drafted by the Feinstein forces to meet the threat of political unknown Al Checchi, a multimillionaire Democrat with vast resources but little support among the Democrats' rank and file.

In effect, the Democratic lineup is battle between the pro, the semi-pro and the amateur.

The pro is Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, a Capitol fixture for 25 years as former Gov. Jerry Brown's chief of staff, an Assembly member, controller and, finally, lieutenant governor.

The semi-pro is Harman, who has served in Congress for five years but is unknown outside her west Los Angeles district.

And the amateur is Checchi, the former co-chairman of Northwest Airlines, who is making is first run for major office.

At first blush the underdog is Davis, even though he leads Democrats in the polls, because he has no personal fortune to draw on. But looks can be deceiving. Davis, one of the Capitol's top fund-raisers, has put together nearly a $4 million war chest, and he is well known among Democrats. He also is an experienced, bare-knuckles campaigner with significant support from the party's liberal wing, and he has a statewide campaign organization in place.

Although Checchi, who is worth more than $800 million according to some estimates, can spend as much as he wants to win the race, he faces an uphill fight to build name recognition. And name recognition is the first prerequisite to winning office in a vast state like California, where voters have little direct contact with the candidate and are forced to rely on skewed television advertising to form their image of the contender. Other wealthy politicians who came from nowhere -- Michael Huffington and Norton Simon immediately come to mind -- have found to their cost that it takes more than just money to capture enough support to win a top office.

Even Ronald Reagan, who won the governorship on his first try in 1966, was well known to the public as an actor and corporate spokesman before he made a stab at political office with the backing of wealthy patrons.

That leaves the 52-year-old Harman, who has both money and some political experience, although not on a statewide level. She has campaign experience and she has money, but she faces the same problem as Checchi, the lack of statewide name recognition.

Thus far, the happiest candidate in this year's governor's race is Republican contender Dan Lungren, who enters the campaign with his party unified behind him and a solid fund-raising machine intact.

His hope: that the Democrats will wound themselves in the primary and he will face a weakened foe in the November general election.

So far, it looks like he'll get his wish.

Haley Barbour once said "The sunny beaches of California are littered with the bleached bones of those who underestimated Pete Wilson." Actually he said this immediately after a Field Poll showed Pete trailing Kathleen Brown by 24 points.

Antonio Villariagosa is not a new kid on the block. He is a little obscure, only because the rest of California is behind Los Angeles (and San Diego) in recognizing the fact that the Latino community is the future government of our City and our State. It is truly a sleeping giant, but Antonio is not asleep. He is bright and able, and if he doesn't have all the parliamentary hocus-pocus down pat, guess what? He will find someone who does and employ him or her as wisely as did Willie Brown allow Mike Roos to be the operational presiding officer of the Assembly for 12 or 14 years. If Sheila Kuhl stays as Speaker Pro Tem, she is a good candidate for the job.

But whatever you do, don't underestimate Antonio. He is not new to the trappings of power, and he knows how to get, use and keep it. And more importantly than anything else, he knows how to go across the aisle when he needs to and use that talent to make the Assembly work. I predict an active, less bitter year for the Assembly. Antonio, to those of us who know him, is a talented, outreaching legislator who knows how to get results. You will be suprised by his problem-solving ability.

-Shelly Sloan

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