WHY HE FLAMED OUT FAST

By JEFFREY H. BIRNBAUM/WASHINGTON

WHEN LAMAR ALEXANDER'S PRESS AIDES IN NASHVILLE saw news reports that California Governor Pete Wilson was dropping out of the presidential race, the order went out: call the money guys on the coast. At Bob Dole campaign headquarters in Washington, press aides dashed over to their fund-raising office. But by the time they got there, they found their colleagues already poring over lists of rich Republican donors from Los Angeles to Sacramento. Barely looking up from her computer printouts, one of the fund raisers responded simply, "Yeah, we know," and went back to work.

If money is the milk of politics, California is the cash cow. So the exit of Wilson from the presidential contest instantly spurred a rush for political gold. Over the next few months, G.O.P. candidates will be eagerly seeking the money Wilson kept bottled up there but was largely unable to tap. Republican givers were stingy with him because they were mad that Wilson broke his promise not to run for President. But they were not imprudent enough to give freely to his rivals, for fear of angering the sitting Governor. Now the checkbooks will open. Predicts Golden State media consultant Bill Carrick: "The immediate result of the Wilson departure will be a scramble for California dollars, and I guess Dole, the front runner, will be the chief beneficiary."

The next battle will be for votes, and each Republican candidate quickly laid claim to Wilson's followers. Alexander and Pat Buchanan asserted they were the two remaining political outsiders. Senator Arlen Specter said he was the last moderate. And Senator Phil Gramm said he now had the support of the two top G.O.P. leaders in the California legislature. But appealing to Wilson's backers might not be much of a prize. In a Time/cnn poll last week, only 2% of Republicans in the survey said they would support Wilson for President. That fact, along with a million-dollar campaign debt, led to his surprise exit a mere month and a day after entering the race.

The Wilson campaign will probably be remembered as one of the most ill-starred presidential bids in history. After deciding to run, he almost immediately had throat surgery that kept him from announcing--or even talking--for months. His people boasted he would be the $20 million man, but he collected barely $6 million. He pulled out of the key state of Iowa, and his staff broke into open warfare. His closest campaign aide quit in a huff and said he was going body surfing in Sri Lanka. And then abruptly last week Wilson canceled the television ads in New Hampshire that were his only hope for victory. With breathtaking understatement, his advocate in Massachusetts, Governor William Weld, concluded, "Things just didn't break Pete's way."

Wilson, 62, said he was not abandoning the national political scene. But unless he boosts his dismal poll ratings in California, he will not be much use as a vice presidential candidate. He also has some repair work to do with the man who is most likely to make that selection. Last month Dole departed from his text at a G.O.P. conclave in Michigan to compliment Wilson on his anticrime initiatives. But Wilson did not return the favor by giving Dole advance notice of his departure from the race. It was an oversight Dole did not fail to notice.

--With reporting by Jordan Bonfante/Los Angeles

With reporting by Jordan Bonfante/Los Angeles