Condit Quietly Gathering Signatures for Reelection

SACRAMENTO — Defying polls and his party leaders, U.S. Rep. Gary Condit has quietly launched a bid for reelection, raising the prospect of a bitter primary revolving around his relationship with missing intern Chandra Levy.

Condit began collecting signatures this week to qualify for the March 5 ballot, according to his longtime campaign consultant, Richard Ross, who said the embattled legislator “still considers reelection a real possibility.”

If the Ceres Democrat seeks an eighth term, he would face several significant hurdles, starting with a newly drawn, less friendly congressional district and a likely primary challenge from his onetime aide, Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza of Merced.

Moreover, Condit has gotten a distinct cold shoulder from many top Democrats, including Gov. Gray Davis and House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri, who have criticized Condit’s perceived lack of candor since Levy disappeared last spring.

Although Condit has been questioned repeatedly by police, authorities have said he is not a suspect in Levy’s disappearance.

The congressman has said the two shared a “very close relationship.” Levy’s relatives said the two were having an affair.

The signature gathering, which began Monday, was the first clear sign of Condit’s political intentions after months of rumors and speculation. In California, a major party congressional candidate has the option of paying a relatively nominal fee--$1,451--or obtaining 3,000 signatures from registered voters to secure a place on the ballot.

“Gary has always prided himself . . . on [qualifying] on the strength of petitions that are gathered by friends, neighbors and door-to-door,” Ross said in an interview Tuesday.

Ross said a full campaign schedule--including public appearances--will “evolve over the next month.”

Legislator Canceled Annual Fund-Raiser

Condit has remained largely out of public sight since the Levy investigation got underway, emerging briefly in late August for a series of selected interviews that proved politically disastrous.

With public sentiment running strongly against him, the embattled legislator recently canceled his annual Condit Country Roundup, a fall fund-raiser at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds. He said he did so because of last month’s terrorist attacks.

On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that Condit has put his one-bedroom Washington condominium on the market.

Together, the moves fueled conjecture that Condit would retire rather than face what promises to be a difficult reelection fight.

Privately, however, word of Condit’s intentions to run again started circulating on Capitol Hill late last week, surprising and disappointing many Democrats who consider him unelectable.

Some in the Democratic leadership believe that Condit is mistakenly acting on a sense that his political prospects have improved since attention has shifted away from the Levy scandal.

Two Republicans have announced plans to run for Condit’s congressional seat, state Sen. Richard Monteith of Modesto and Modesto City Councilman Bill Conrad. Monteith had said he would not challenge Condit but changed his mind, evidently as the incumbent’s political standing slid.

Both Republicans, however, could face an uphill fight in November 2002, given the new makeup of the district: registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 52% to 35%, making it more partisan than it was before last month’s redistricting.

Condit could also face a tough time in a contested primary. The Democrats who have been added to the district come from Stockton, which is more urban and liberal than the rural precincts the conservative Condit has long represented.

“The Democrats are more FDR Democrats,” said Don Parsons, a Stockton political consultant. Perhaps more important, he added: “The only things they know about Condit, by and large, are what they learned during the Chandra Levy thing.”

Candidates have until Dec. 7 to decide whether to run.

Cardoza, a three-term assemblyman, has told people he is leaning toward a congressional bid regardless of Condit’s plans and is expected to announce his decision by the end of this month. State Sen. Jim Costa (D-Fresno) has said he would run for Congress only if Condit steps aside.