By William Claiborne
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 22, 1998; Page A05

LOS ANGELES, April 21—Although virtually unopposed for the Republican nomination, attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Dan Lungren has jumped headlong into the state's lavish campaign spending spree by launching television advertisements before the June 2 open primary.

Lungren's campaign advisers said the ads are strategically important to begin "framing the issues" and broadening the attorney general's identity among voters. The decision to begin now in such a pricey TV sweepstakes made it clear Lungren fears that without early and extensive advertising he could end up winning his party's nomination with less support than the two leaders for the Democratic nomination, millionaire businessman Al Checchi and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.).

Lungren could have his party's nomination but still be seen by potential crossover voters in the general election as a second-running candidate and possibly vulnerable to even more aggressive television campaigning by Checchi, who has already spent more than $15 million of his own money on TV since November. Harman has tapped into the wealth of her husband Sidney, chairman and CEO of District-based Harman International Industries Inc., to spend about $5 million on the tube.

While Lungren's aides declined to say how much he will spend in the expensive California TV market, they suggested it will be competitive enough to prevent a serious erosion of the attorney general's GOP base by Checchi or Harman.

Acknowledging that the "blanket" primary is somewhat like an early, unofficial general election, Lungren campaign director Dave Puglia said, "If this was a closed [normal] primary, there might be a change in what we're doing. So, there is a recognition that we have to lock away the Republican base."

Puglia said it was also important to identify Lungren to voters "before other candidates do it." He said that polling and focus groups have shown that Lungren is widely known as a state attorney general who is tough on crime issues, "but that's about it."

Consequently, one of two 30-second TV ads being aired is biographical, featuring Lungren's life growing up in California, his 10 years in Congress and his eight years as attorney general. The second ad stresses his efforts at reducing crime to the "lowest rates that we've seen in 30 years."

Rick Davis, Lungren's senior campaign consultant, said the ads will be seen eight to 10 times a week in nearly every market in the state.

When asked if the TV buys mean that Checchi, a corporate investor worth $600 million, was eroding the Republican base, Davis said, "We don't expect to get 100 percent of the Republicans, nor do we need it to win."

Puglia said that if Checchi is the Democratic nominee, "I don't expect that we can match him dollar for dollar. But at some point there's a law of diminishing returns. Voters are smart enough to know when a candidate is trying to buy an election."