Feinstein Dogged by Vice President Issue

For months, the press, the pundits and the public have barely allowed U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to get through a public appearance without quizzing her about becoming the Democrats’ nominee for vice president.

Even former governor and now Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown couldn’t resist needling her about it at a recent luncheon. “If and when Al Gore asks you to be his running mate, will you accept?” Brown asked Feinstein before an Oakland Chamber of Commerce crowd of 700.

“Ah, Jerry,” Feinstein scoffed. Then she changed the subject.

“Well, I’d accept it, I know that,” Brown said to laughter and applause.

No one has received a clear answer from the senator, who is running for reelection, and the questioning seems to grate on her.

But if she isn’t a candidate for vice president, why not just say so?

“Her point of view is, quite understandably, ‘I haven’t been asked to be vice president. Why should I answer questions about it?’ ” said veteran political consultant Bill Carrick, who is directing Feinstein’s reelection campaign against GOP Rep. Tom Campbell.

“This is a decision that is going to be made by Al Gore. And to take yourself out of a race that you haven’t been asked to join is sort of presumptuous,” Carrick said.

But it could end some of the questioning.

“I don’t think she is closing that door, but it is a costly way of doing things, because it invites speculation, which makes her irritable,” said Bruce E. Cain, director of UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies.

Feinstein’s staff says her most definitive statement on the subject was offered July 7 during a question-and-answer session after a luncheon speech in Sacramento.

What about the vice presidency? a reporter asked. “I’ve said what I’ve had to say about that,” she replied.

“Say it again,” the reporter continued, “because I wasn’t there.”

“I am a candidate for reelection to the United States Senate,” Feinstein said. “It is where I intend to spend the rest of my political career.”

Still, another reporter asked, “If Mr. Gore calls an hour after he’s nominated and he says, ‘Dianne, I want you,’ what would you say?”

Replied Feinstein: “I am not going to answer a hypothetical question, because I don’t know.”

When a third reporter persisted, Feinstein said, “I don’t know, and I like your red tie. Let’s go on to something else, OK? We’ve been through this 67 ways from Sunday.”

One longtime Democratic consultant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, speculated that Feinstein may be tired of the questioning because her name is less and less frequently dropped by Democratic insiders.

“The bottom line is, she is not being actively considered for this position and there is no particular political reason she should be,” said the consultant, who is not part of Feinstein’s campaign. “If Gore can’t win California without her, the [presidential] race is already over.”

Still, Feinstein is nationally known, and she is identified with some issues that have grown in popularity over the years, most notably stricter gun control.

Some say it is that very popularity--evidenced by her current lead in the polls of more than 20 points over Campbell--that has allowed her the luxury of permitting speculation about serving as a running mate.

“I think if she were in a really tight race and fighting for her life, the possibility of flirting with the vice presidential position would be . . . very much of a concern” for her, Cain said.

“There is a lot of evidence in California that voters don’t like their elected officials moving to the next step,” he said. “It never worked well for Jerry Brown. It didn’t work well for [former Gov.] Pete Wilson.

“We are very parochial in the state,” Cain added. “We don’t like to think of ourselves as a steppingstone. We think of ourselves as the end point, that we are the big time.”

Besides, as Feinstein’s inner circle insists, there are never enough denials to end the speculation.

Arizona Sen. John McCain said “for weeks and weeks” that he had no interest in the Republican vice presidency, noted Kam Kuwata, Feinstein’s campaign manager. Yet his name was mentioned repeatedly as a possible running mate for presumed GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush.

Right up until Bush picked Dick Cheney.