By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 23, 1998; Page A11

LOS ANGELES, March 22—Traditions die hard in politics. So 1,400 Democratic activists huddled in the darkened ballrooms and bars of a downtown hotel here this sunny weekend with the stated purpose of gearing up for a blockbuster gubernatorial campaign.

But in a place where last year's Oscar winners are has-beens, the political convention is feeling a bit like a relic. The real game in this year's red-hot race is being played out over the airwaves.

Two multimillionaires in the Democratic field, Rep. Jane Harman and businessman Al Checchi, have promised to spend whatever it takes, guaranteeing that once again California, with its 14 media markets, is poised to enter the record books as the costliest political state in the nation.

In theory, a telegenic, well-financed candidate could conduct a winning race for governor of California from the safe confines of a television studio without ever encountering an opponent, a reporter or even a voter.

None of the candidates is suggesting anything that extreme, but the early polling bears out the unique nature of this contest.

After roughly seven weeks in the race and buying $3 million of television commercials, Harman leaped into the lead in last week's Field Poll. Checchi (pronounced Check-ee) is 2 points behind, after buying $14 million of commercials with his own money.

Lt. Gov. Gray Davis, a sentimental favorite with many activists, will save most of his estimated $5 million budget for the weeks before the June 2 primary.

The three are vying for a shot at state Attorney General Dan Lungren, an antiabortion, pro-gun Republican whose balky start and smaller bank account have Democrats dreaming of reclaiming control of the governor's office after a 16-year drought. In a campaign year that could well favor incumbents, this race is shaping up as one of the liveliest.

And one of the most important.

The person who replaces GOP Gov. Pete Wilson will preside over, if California were a country, what would be the world's seventh-largest economy; oversee redistricting for the largest congressional delegation in the nation; and play host to a parade of presidential candidates clamoring for California's 54 electoral votes.

"Whoever wins is automatically considered a national prospect and a real asset for their party," said party consultant Bob Mulholland.

Today, meeting in the same setting for the first time in this campaign, the three Democratic contenders made clear that this will be a fierce, personal battle.

"I think it's great [that] people can become wealthy in this country," Davis told the convention. "But I know two things: First, your vote is not for sale. And second, I offer the voters a wealth of public service experience that no amount of money can buy."

He attacked Checchi for donating to Republicans Robert J. Dole and Steve Forbes in the last presidential election and Harman for voting with Speaker "Newt Gingrich and Republicans" on the 1995 shutdown of the federal government.

Checchi is offering voters a satchel full of largely untested ideas and the confidence of a man who has made millions running such companies as Northwest Airlines Inc., Marriott Corp. and Disney.

"Al Checkbook," as he is derided, has been criticized for not voting in previous elections and for a handful of gaffes such as misstating California's tax structure. But he has made inroads among Latinos from his wife's appearances on Spanish-language TV.

At the convention, Checchi was host to a $50,000 party Saturday featuring the band Los Lobos. Monday night, he will greet Californians tuning in to the Academy Awards and Barbara Walters's special in two 30-second spots that together will cost more than $120,000.

Harman, whose campaign will rely heavily on the generosity of her 79-year-old entrepreneur husband Sidney Harman, predicts Checchi will outspend her, but not by much. Even so, she calls the cost of campaigns a "perversion" that she would reform with limits on spending.

A third-term congresswoman nicknamed "GI Jane" for her support of the local defense industry, Harman is touting her leadership style – "nurturing and building coalitions" – as her great asset.

California has a new "blanket primary" in which 18 candidates appear on a single gubernatorial ballot and the top vote-getter of each party advances to the general election. The new system has triggered some uncommon, and sometimes confusing, strategies.

To broaden his appeal, Checchi has made no mention of party affiliation in his ads. Harman, meanwhile, touts her Democratic credentials in every TV spot, a strategy analysts say caused her jump in the polls.

But to hear them talk this weekend, it was as if the roles had been reversed.

In his speech today, Checchi used the phrase "I'm a Democrat" 10 times and invoked the memories of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin Delano Roosevelt and two Kennedys. And he tartly reminded delegates that Harman recently boasted she is "the best Republican in the Democratic Party."

Harman also spoke of the Kennedys and her Democratic heritage, but in an interview she predicted "moderate Republican women and men" would give her the edge in the primary and general election. "Those are the folks who voted for me in my congressional district," she said.

She criticized Checchi's "endless stream of position papers that don't get read and never turn into policy."

California political scientist Sherry Bebitch Jeffe said Harman is "Dan Lungren's worst nightmare. He really isn't where the California electorate is on the issues of primary concern to them, such as education, choice, gun control and tobacco."

Still, Jeffe said, Harman faces one problem that has hindered other women: "The conventional wisdom indicates voters are more amenable to women for legislative office than executive office."