Ueberroth calls it quits

Lolita Harper

Peter Ueberroth, who had raised more money in the Newport-Mesa area

than any candidate in the recall race, announced Tuesday he was

dropping out of election because of a lack of time to run a

substantive campaign.

He also promised more than $1 million of his own money to pay back

every last campaign contribution.

Just a day after campaign contributions showed overwhelming

support for the former baseball commissioner in the Newport-Mesa

area, Ueberroth told a room full of journalists, cameras and

supporters that the small amount of time remaining before the special

election was not enough for him to run a positive, detail-oriented

campaign.

“With three plus, or four weeks, left it was just not going to

happen,” Ueberroth said at a 1 p.m. press conference at his campaign

headquarters here.

People and companies in Corona del Mar, Newport Beach and Newport

Coast gave the Laguna Beach resident a total of $356,300 to aid his

bid to unseat Gov. Gray Davis in California’s special election.

Contributions from Newport Beach and Ueberroth’s family in the area

accounted for 15% of his funds.

Campaign officials said all of the money would be given back,

including that which had been spent already, and Ueberroth planned to

repay it with his own money.

Dan Schnur, the manager of the Ueberroth campaign, said his team

met a few days prior to discuss campaign strategies, at which point

it became clear their tactics would need to change. Without getting

into specifics, Schnur said the new approach would require Ueberroth

to run a campaign he was just “not comfortable with,” including but

not limited to attacking other candidates.

“There was no way to get to the goal line without violating the

principles that brought him into this election in the first place,”

Schnur said.

Known as a strong competitor, who knows how to win, Ueberroth said

it did not make sense to continue a race he was likely to lose. He

called the decision pragmatic.

“I am pragmatic,” he stressed.

Ueberroth intended to run a “positive, substantive and

detail-oriented” campaign, Schnur said. To do that, he simply needed

more time. Given 10 or 11 months, or even another nine weeks, the

Ueberroth team felt it could get his message out and win over the

majority of the voters. Polls showed a high percentage of voters did

not have enough information to make an informed decision. Once people

hear his ties to the 1984 Olympics and learn of his credentials, they

are quick to give him their support, Schnur said.

“Peter made the decision to run on the date of the filing

deadline,” Schnur said. “Had he made it 60 days earlier, then

maybe...”

Schnur dismissed the suggestion that it came to a decision between

a “clean” or “dirty” campaign, and reiterated his general assertion

that elements of the tactics required to win would fly in the face of

Ueberroth’s personality. But they would have won, had they been used,

he said.

The leading organizer of the 1984 Olympics and former baseball

commissioner had garnered top-dollar donations of $21,200 from some

of the biggest names in town, including Joan and Donald Beall;

Dorothy Bendetti; William Booth; Jeffrey Moorad; and Frank O’Bryan.

Developer James P. Baldwin gave $20,000, as did investor Roger

Kirwan, who is a main player at the Orange County Performing Arts

Center. The Irvine Co.’s Donald Bren gave $21,000.

Ueberroth, a registered Republican, was running as an independent

candidate with a bipartisan campaign team. Ueberroth has been widely

embraced as a serious candidate for the state’s top elected post,

Newport-Mesa political experts agree.

However, after the first televised debate last week, his numbers

fell considerably behind front runners Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt.

Gov. Cruz Bustamante, both of whom have TV ads running.

None of Ueberroth’s TV advertisements had run yet.

Schwarzenegger’s movie star status brought name recognition and

media attention that also effected Ueberroth’s ability to run a

detail-oriented campaign in such a short amount of time, officials

said.

Ueberroth instead vowed to meet face-to-face with the remaining

front-running candidates -- including Bustamante -- to decide who

will get his support. He said he would work with that person to

create more jobs and get the state out of its economic crisis.

Schnur predicted Ueberroth’s endorsement would make a heavy mark

in the ultimate outcome. The former candidate knows the Terminator

and contributed money to candidate John McClintock’s previous

statewide campaign last year. He is not considered “friends” with

either, his former manager said.

“I am not going to willy-nilly make a decision because the media

wants me to -- or anyone else,” Ueberroth said. “... I can’t go with

something that was said on a TV ad. I have to be eyeball to eyeball.

That is the way I am and it’s not going to change now.”

* LOLITA HARPER writes columns Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and

covers culture and the arts. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275 or

by e-mail at [email protected].