Election '82: Fresh Faces in the Mansion

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And most are Democrats, who now command 34 statehouses

They are the dukes of the American democracy, officials who possess broad powers in their states and, as a presidential year draws near, can exact tribute from the incumbent in the White House and those who want to oust him. All reason enough for the Reagan Administration to have put a high priority on maintaining at 23 the G.O.P.'s share of governorships. Another factor last week that made the gubernatorial races a bit more important to the President: his already unpopular New Federalism proposal to shift welfare burdens to the states depends on the Governors' cooperation.

The Republicans were badly jolted on Election Day. The Democrats took three-quarters of last week's 36 gubernatorial contests, their best showing since the post-Watergate landslide of 1974. They will preside in 34 states, a net gain of seven for sure, with a remote possibility of picking up an eighth in Illinois (see following story). Of the five incumbents who lost, only one was a Democrat: New Hampshire's Hugh Gallen, beaten because he refused to take the state's ritual pledge for gubernatorial candidates to veto any income or sales tax.

In the Midwest, Democrats will replace Republicans in five states: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Michigan. In Michigan, Congressman James Blanchard, with organized labor's support, soundly beat Richard Headlee, a conservative, and will become the state's first Democratic Governor in 20 years. Six other important races:

CALIFORNIA. Tom Bradley's victory was to have been cause for national self-congratulation: the Los Angeles mayor would have become the country's first elected black Governor. But Democrat Bradley, 64, lost narrowly to the state's stern attorney general, Republican George Deukmejian, 54, who established a modest bench mark of his own: he is the first Governor of Armenian parentage.

Was Bradley beaten because of his race? Probably. California Pollster Mervin Field found that "race was a major factor." The margin, in any case, was slight, 52,000 out of 7.4 million votes.

Deukmejian, with his law-and-order reputation, may have benefited from the large number of right-wingers drawn to the polls to defeat a handgun-control initiative. Deukmejian portrayed Bradley as a coddler of crooks, despite the mayor's 21 years as a Los Angeles policeman, and concentrated on the crime-and-punishment issues. Bradley, meanwhile, talked earnestly and almost exclusively about unemployment. It was not enough.

TEXAS. In 1978 he became Texas' first Republican Governor in more than 100 years, after spending $7.2 million. So Bill Clements, 65, an oil-rich spendthrift, dropped $12.5 million this time, and expected a no-sweat reelection. Then, as his election-night party started, ABC News began predicting that Democrat Mark White would be the winner. Gasped one partygoer: "You're kidding me."

No joke. White, 42, the state's conservative attorney general who has a penchant for populist rhetoric, drubbed Clements, 53% to 46%. The next day, Clements was as vividly candid as ever: "We not only got beaten at the line of scrimmage, but we probably needed another quarterback. When you take a shellacking, you lick your wounds and come back another day."