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>From the Northcoast journal by DAN WALTERS SACRAMENTO - It's been a decade since Democrats could claim political hegemony on California's North Coast. The regional Democratic sweep saw state Sen. Mike Thompson claim a Republican-held seat in Congress, former Humboldt County Supervisor Wes Chesbro take Thompson's old seat in the Senate and Assemblywoman Virginia Strom-Martin win re-election to a second term. Chesbro had been the only question mark going into the campaign since he faced a Republican rival, John Jordan, who was willing to spend millions of dollars from his family's winery fortune. As it turned out, Democratic leaders in Sacramento ponied up their own millions to meet, if not match, the Jordan drive and that, coupled with a broader tilt tQ the Democrats across the state, propelled Chesbro to victory. The election solidified Democrats' hold on a region that a few decades earlier had been fertile ground for Republicans. It also strengthened Thompson's self-asserted role as the North Coast's top political figure, ~omeone whose influence extends downward into not only legislative offices but county supervisor and city council seats and even Democratic Party county committee slots. Finally, November's election created a situation that hasn't existed in more than 30 years: Democrats dominating the region's congressional and legislative offices while also having a president and a governor from the same party. One has to go back to the early 1960s, when John Kennedy occupied the White House, Pat Brown was governor, Clem Miller was in Congress and Carl Christensen was a power in the state Senate, to find a comparable political environment. So the Democrats have it all. Now what will they do with it? Three-plus decades ago, the North Coast's perpetual wars over cultural values and natural resources had just begun. Redwoods National Park was still a dream of some environmentalists. Democratic officeholders backed the timber industry and championed public works projects - dams, levees, highways, bridges - that are now out of favor in the party's dogma. The contemporary Democratic approach to the North Coast's political minefield, one devised by former state Sen. Barry Keene and perfected by Thompson, is to walk very carefully, one step at a time, never veering too far to the left or right. It's been called "New Democrat." And as it happens, it's also the demeanor that President Clinton and the incoming governor, Gray Davis, have adopted on a broader scale. Politically, it's the smart thing to do because it minimizes risk. But Democrats who proceed cautiously also risk alienating elements of their own party who want action after years of being frustrated by Republican officeholders. While Davis fends off demands from unions, trial lawyers and other factions on the Dembcratic left, Thompson and Chesbro now must contend with the demands of environmentalists to tilt matters their way. There's already some talk in Sacramento, for instance, of undoing this year's highly contentious state appropriation to acquire a limited amount of Pacific Lumber Co.'s Headwaters Forest. Environmentalists want a better deal that includes more logging restrictions, citing the state's lifting of PL's logging permit in November as proof that the company cannot be trusted. Davis, Thompson and Chesbro may learn very early in their new careers just how treacherous victory can be.
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