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Subject: Candidates for Senate Hold Final Rallies
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 06:47:12 EST
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HEADLINE: Candidates for Senate Hold Final Rallies
Publication Date: Tuesday November 3, 1992
BYLINE: TRACY WILKINSON DEAN E. MURPHY

California's historic dual Senate campaign ended Monday with
Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer pledging to work as "a team
for change," while Republicans John Seymour and Bruce Herschensohn
stumped traditional GOP strongholds.

   The votes of more than 11 million Californians--1.1 million more than
in the last presidential election in 1988--are expected to be cast, many
at 25,914 polling places across the state today, officials predicted.

   The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

   The weather was expected to encourage a high turnout, with forecasters
predicting a warm Election Day, sunny and dry throughout California.

   Feinstein, strongly favored over opponent Seymour, and Boxer, locked
in a tight race with conservative television commentator Herschensohn,
flew from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo to San Francisco in a final,
election eve push for votes. Seymour and Herschensohn, in a departure
from customary GOP togetherness, campaigned separately.

   "I truly believe that the people of this state will lead the movement:
The status quo must go!" Feinstein said in a boisterous pep rally in West
Hollywood meant, in part, to promote the election of two women senators.

   "The people in this state want a team for change."

   Seymour, campaigning in Rancho Cucamonga, countered: "I think what
Californians are really concerned about in this election are jobs and the
future," he said, insisting his campaign still hoped for an upset.

   In addition to the presidential and U.S. Senate races, Californians
will elect 52 members of Congress and 100 members of the state
Legislature--all 80 members of the Assembly and half of the 40 state
senators. Democrat Bill Clinton is expected to win the state's 54
electoral votes, but partisan battles for control of the Assembly and the
congressional delegation were being waged up until the last minute.

   The ballot also includes 13 statewide propositions, including
controversial right-to-die, health insurance, welfare cuts, budget
powers, and congressional term limits initiatives.

   It is the first time in the state's history that both Senate seats are
on the same ballot. Feinstein, the former mayor of San Francisco, and
Seymour, the appointed incumbent, are competing to fill the last two
years of the term vacated by Pete Wilson when he became governor.

   Boxer and Herschensohn are vying for the six-year seat held by
retiring Sen. Alan Cranston. Their tight race continued to attract the
most attention.

   Appearing tired but determined, Herschensohn attended an early morning
airport rally in El Centro before flying to San Diego for a luncheon
speech before the City Club. He discussed his flat-tax proposal and
warned a group of Huntington Beach students that the nation's huge
deficit is tantamount to stealing from future generations.

   "My generation has stolen from you and your kids, when you have them,"
he told an auditorium of about 150 students. "I am sorry because it is a
dirty trick. . . . We have become, by law, common thieves. We have been
signing your name on credit cards."

   At the San Diego luncheon, Herschensohn again faced questions about
the disclosure Friday that he visited a nude dance club and buys adult
magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse.

   A woman in the audience, who described herself only as a life-long
Republican, asked Herschensohn how he could reconcile such behavior with
his strong support from the religious right.

   "I believe in people having the right to do what they want,"
Herschensohn said. "My protest has been against the National Endowment
for the Arts because people aren't doing what they want. What if you
don't want to finance pornography?"

   Asked by the woman if he considers Playboy and Penthouse to be
pornographic, Herschensohn said he did not know. "It depends on the
edition of Playboy or Penthouse," he said. "I mean, I just don't want to
say that with absolute certainty. I don't know. It depends on what you're
looking for. Nor do I want to get into a discussion of it."

   Later, at a news conference, Herschensohn, who has embraced the GOP
"family values" platform, appeared to acknowledge that some of his views
do not jibe with the philosophy and tenets of the religious right, which
has helped to raise money for his candidacy.

   He said that as long as adult magazines are kept out of children's
hands, and as long as localities are allowed to control the distribution,
then he would have to disagree with those who would ban Playboy,
Penthouse and similar publications.

   "I don't believe in censorship," he said. "I believe very much in
ensuring children don't get a hold of these things. But when you are old
enough, when you are an adult, you should be able to make your own
decisions."

   On Sunday, Herschensohn had defended his decision to patronize the
Seventh Veil nude club in Hollywood with his Bob Mulholland, a
top-ranking state Democratic Party official who was suspended for acting
without party authorization.

   Boxer has denied having anything to do with making the disclosure, and
she was forced to do so again Monday when questioned by reporters.

   "His private life is his private life," she said. "I want to talk
about his public life, his positions."

   Boxer, joining Feinstein at the West Hollywood rally and on the
fly-around to Bakersfield, San Luis Obispo and San Francisco, said the
"clear difference" between her liberal views and Herschensohn's
conservative views opposing abortion and favoring off-shore oil drilling
should be the basis upon which voters cast their ballots.

   In urging supporters to get out the vote, Boxer said she would end the
era of "right-wing politics--where ideology blocks progress."

   "We can go back to the days of darkness with Bruce Herschensohn," she
said, as the crowd interrupted her with shouts of "Never!" . . . "Or do
we want a fighter for the people? We have a clear choice between a
fighter and a teammate for Dianne, or an extremist who is out of touch
with California."

   With Boxer's once commanding lead eroded to nearly nothing in several
polls, Feinstein and Democratic Party officials were eager to extend some
coattails to the Marin County congresswoman.  Team  was the
catchword of the day, and Feinstein referred to herself and Boxer as the
"new Cagney and Lacey."

   Given a 14-point lead over Seymour in last week's Field Poll,
Feinstein positively beamed with confidence. At the West Hollywood
appearance, she joked with Boxer and seemed to relish the chants of
"Dianne! Dianne!" that filled a crowded campaign headquarters on Santa
Monica Boulevard.

   She urged followers to elect "a team that will give us an economic
growth strategy, an invest-in-America plan, pass a freedom of choice act
and pass unpaid medical family leave."

   Later, at San Francisco's Delancey Street, Feinstein reflected on the
last four years of traveling the campaign trail, from her grueling but
unsuccessful bid for the governor's office in 1990 to the eve of what she
hoped was victory.

   "For me this is a cumulation of four years, if you can believe it, on
the campaign trail," she told a wildly cheering crowd of supporters.
"Visiting every one of our 58 counties. Seeing in Technicolor the
California dream, seeing where it's holding together and seeing where
it's falling apart.

   "And let me tell you, there is no issue in this campaign as profound
as the No. 1 family value of this country--a job."

   Seymour, meanwhile, was hopscotching from the Inland Empire to San
Jose, San Diego and finally home turf in Orange County. He spoke to
supporters at an aerospace factory in Rancho Cucamonga, and told
reporters his campaign was "still looking for an upset."

   "The voters of California are very independent people," Seymour said,
discounting the expectation that a big victory for Bill Clinton will help
Democratic Senate candidates. "They vote for the candidate based on where
they stand on the issues. That's what they'll do tomorrow."

   Speaking to factory workers, Seymour said:

   "You have a clear choice tomorrow when you go to the polls. . . . One
answer for the future is more government in our lives, more government
direction, more taxes, more federal mandates and more programs. Or, if
you support John Seymour and vote for John Seymour, what you are going to
get, I promise you, is less taxes, less government in your face and in
your lives."

   Times staff writers Bill Stall, Douglas P. Shuit and Richard C.
Paddock contributed to this report.

   RELATED STORIES: A3, B1


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