Davis to Campaign on Economy : Politics: State controller says he is more qualified for U.S. Senate than fellow Democrat Feinstein. Her aide calls him ‘a spoiler.’

Democratic state Controller Gray Davis described himself Friday as a “new breed, no-nonsense” politician who--by any measure--would be a better U.S. senator for California than fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

Davis, 49, of Los Angeles told Southern California political writers during a meeting that he will base his campaign on a national economic revival, drawing on 17 years of experience as Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.’s gubernatorial chief of staff, assemblyman and, for the past five years, controller.

“I am running because I would be a far more effective senator and could provide the economic leadership this country desperately needs,” Davis said.

Davis is best known to many Californians as the official who persuaded private companies to put the photos of missing children on milk cartons, billboards and grocery bags in the mid-1980s, when he was in the Legislature. As controller, Davis’ signature appears on most checks the state writes, including tax refunds, amounting to billions of dollars a year.

Davis told a fund-raising dinner last November that he will run for the two-year seat, but some political insiders have whispered that they thought Davis might drop out in deference to Feinstein and aim for a run for governor in 1994.

But since then Davis has hired a campaign management team led by veteran strategist David Mixner and supported by the West Side-based political organization of Democrats Henry A. Waxman and Howard L. Berman. Davis said he has banked $1.5 million for a primary election campaign that he expects to cost about $4 million.

Feinstein, 58, announced for the two-year Senate seat last January, barely two months after losing a hard-fought campaign for governor to Republican Pete Wilson, then in the U.S. Senate, by a vote margin of 3.5%.

When Wilson resigned as senator to become governor, he appointed Republican state Sen. John Seymour of Anaheim to his U.S. Senate seat. By law, voters at the next general election, which is this year, must elect a senator to serve the last two years of Wilson’s term. The seat will come up again in 1994 for a regular six-year term.

By declaring early, Feinstein hoped to preempt the field and avoid a divisive Democratic primary contest such as the one she won in 1990 against then-state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp. After her uphill primary battle, Feinstein’s campaign was exhausted and its treasury empty. Wilson, who had no primary opposition, was able to go on the offensive during the summer while the Feinstein forces were reorganizing for the general election campaign.

On Friday, Feinstein campaign director Kam Kuwata branded Davis as “a spoiler.”

“He can’t win and he won’t win,” Kuwata said. “There really isn’t any philosophical argument that he is making” that substantially differentiates his message from Feinstein’s, said Kuwata, who used to work for Davis.

“His candidacy is helping the Republicans,” Kuwata said.

Feinstein also has targeted the economy as her major issue and is portraying herself as an outsider on the attack against “the mess in Washington.”

Davis said his economic plan will emphasize the revival of manufacturing because California will sink into mediocrity if it is content to be a service-oriented society.

Davis said he will work to see that electric-powered automobiles that will be required by California air pollution control laws are built in California.

“There will be a market for this kind of car. It will be built somewhere. And if we have the right kind of leadership, it can and should be built here,” he said.

Asked how he would distinguish himself philosophically from Feinstein, Davis said: “I am more progressive and I am more of a fighter and have a far better grasp of what has to be done to improve this country’s economic fortunes.”

The most recent opinion polls indicated that Feinstein had more support among Democrats surveyed, perhaps in part because of her exposure as a gubernatorial candidate.

Asked how he could defeat Feinstein in a Democratic primary when Van de Kamp could not in 1990, Davis said the economy has changed the mood of voters. He added: “Unlike John, I am for the death penalty. I believe in economic growth and I have broken new ground to protect the state’s environmental resources.

“It takes that kind of new breed, no-nonsense politician to turn this country around,” he said.