According to several polls, Lt. Gov. Gray Davis is the Democratic front-runner for California governor. (AP)

By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 21, 1998; Page A02

LOS ANGELES—Democrat Gray Davis's campaign slogan in the race for governor here is "Experience Money Can't Buy" – his best defense against his multimillionaire rivals, Al Checchi and Jane Harman.

The standard story line on this year's California gubernatorial race is that the rich win. Checchi, the business executive, and Harman, a three-term House member, are lavishing millions of their own funds on sharpie consultants and television ads to produce the "virtual campaign."

Yet the real story out of the nation's largest state may be one of the oldest political tales around. If Davis, the political veteran who brags about his pauper-like lifestyle, wins the primary, he will have done it the old-fashioned way: spending gobs of other people's money.

After having been all but written off, Davis has jumped into the lead in recent days – in large part because of his unrivaled ability to raise money.

"Gray Davis has a Rolodex to die for," said California political scientist Sherry Bebitch Jeffe. "He is the consummate fund-raiser. He eats, sleeps and breathes fund-raising."

One recent evening, as he made his way across the French limestone tiles of Jason Barzilay's sumptuous home in the Brentwood neighborhood made infamous by O.J. Simpson, the lieutenant governor explained to the 200 guests dining on salmon why his quest for the top job in the state is inextricably linked to his never-ending search for cash.

"This is the time we really need your help," he said to one couple. "We've got to get by the primary to get to the general and I tell you it's not easy."

Davis professes to disdain fund-raising, but few politicians in America are as personally adroit at cultivating a vast network of generous donors. Since March 17, he has raised $2.2 million, or about $35,000 a day, every day of the week.

"He always asks me for money and I always give," said Mark Weinstein, a real estate developer who greeted guests entering Barzilay's $3 million Mediterranean-style home.

Though he will not match Checchi or Harman dollar for dollar, Davis is expected to spend about $8 million on the primary, which puts him in the big money leagues with people such as Democrat Kathleen Brown, who ran for governor here in 1994, and New York Gov. George Pataki (R). All told, the four major candidates for governor here are likely to spend $60 million by primary day, guaranteeing California will once again break all campaign-spending records.

"It's a bit of a sad commentary," said Stephen Smith, a former aide to Davis who is not involved in the race. "I am opposed to millionaires being able to buy their way into office, but it's also sad when folks have to spend that much time raising money."

The California contest vividly presents the dilemma for civic reformers trying to cleanse a system awash in money. While Davis accuses his wealthy opponents of attempting to buy the governor's office, they say his pursuit of donations presents serious conflicts of interest.

"I don't owe the special interests a dime," Checchi boasts in one ad. "So I'd rather spend my own money and say what I believe."

Since he first began plotting his rise to the governor's office several years ago, Davis's strategy has assumed he would have a terrifyingly large bank account, greased with $4 million he squirreled away in other years.

"Every race he's entered, he's won it by virtue of his ability to swamp the other side with fund-raising," said one veteran Democratic fund-raiser in the state.

Then two things got in the way: Checchi's bulging bank account and a ballot initiative called Proposition 208. Passed in 1996, the initiative limited individual contributions to $1,000 and prohibited candidates from raising any money more than one year before an election, in this case June 1997.

The limits drove Davis crazy, but "what drove him crazier was the time he couldn't do any fund-raising at all," said Smith.

By all accounts, the white-haired, unassuming Davis is an indefatigable fund-raiser, dining, golfing and even praying with potential donors.

"Gray is at the forefront of cultivating the Jewish money community," said Mark Schwartz, as he sat with a group of friends on a terrace overlooking Barzilay's pool. "He attends the high holidays and buys Israel bonds."

Davis, a Catholic, works every donor network, interjected Mark Karlan. "He shows up at everybody's events, not just the Jewish community's."

No gathering is too small, no excuse too trivial for Davis to collect money. Last year, when longtime supporter Richard Ziman turned 55, the birthday party became a Davis fund-raiser. Ziman's wife hosted 190 women for a Davis luncheon recently.

"If people who are capable of giving him money don't, he won't make it," said Ziman, the chief executive officer of Arden Realty Inc.

Yet no matter how hard he worked, Davis could collect no more than $861,000 by the end of 1997. Checchi, by contrast, had spent $7.2 million of his own money by then, much of it on television commercials.

"The frustrating thing as a supporter was having to sit by while the other two spent millions on television," said Howard Wilensky, a senior vice president at Warner Brothers who has backed Davis for years.

There were some benefits to Proposition 208. Many observers say the tight limits discouraged two formidable Democrats, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and former White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta, from entering the primary. It also may have given Checchi a false sense of security that Davis would not be able to raise enough money to even be competitive.

In January, a federal judge tossed out the ballot initiative, opening the floodgates for Davis, who now routinely collects $10,000, $50,000 and even $100,000 from a single giver. Since the limits were lifted, Ziman and his children, for example, have given Davis more than $50,000.

"A bad part of the system is people who don't have large incomes don't have the access," Wilensky conceded. "People who have money have more access and that's a flaw in our system."

This year California is experimenting with a "blanket" primary in which any registered voter may choose any candidate and the top vote-getters in each party move on to the general election. Davis is targeting traditional Democrats, while Checchi and Harman are hoping broader appeals might bring them some independent or Republican support.

"Had 208 stayed in place, Gray Davis would not be a factor today," observed Steve Merksamer, a Republican attorney who has been involved with numerous California campaigns.

With less than two weeks to primary day, Davis has reached television parity with his two rivals, a point that cannot be underestimated in this sprawling, media-savvy state where a 30-second spot on Los Angeles TV can cost as much as $25,000. Spending $1 million on commercials a week, Davis has inched into the lead in several polls.

Yet the one-man money machine may still come up short. Checchi could spend $40 million on the primary and there is no way to predict the impact of his unprecedented direct-mail operation. Harman is likely to spend $12 million of her husband Sidney's fortune.

Said one California Democrat who has helped raise money for national candidates: "The irony about this is that at the end of the day, all Gray's fund-raising will have done is give him an opportunity to break through at the end."