See Riordan Run

Caddell is well aware that he is controversial and also talks down his role, saying he goes to meetings at Riordan‘s house, but so do others. “I don’t know what I‘ll do,” he says. “But between the incessant fund-raising and sheer incompetence of Davis -- and Garry South’s thuggery -- I have to help Dick.”

South, Davis‘ chief political adviser, goes way back with Riordan. The former Washington real estate lobbyist came to California to work as press secretary for Riordan’s main 1993 opponent, Mike Woo, and grew to detest the eventual winner. Signing on with Davis, again without a chief of staff, after Woo‘s defeat, South became known in political circles as a relentlessly tuff-talk spinner on the future governor’s behalf. This year he has annoyed many, including powerful Hollywood figures, with what are viewed as mean-spirited attacks on Davis critics, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had the temerity to ponder a run for the governorship. Schwarzenegger gave Riordan $50,000 on October 19, a day on which Riordan raised a total of $250,000.

Riordan‘s name ID, amiable manner, credible record as mayor, business success, personal wealth and fund-raising ability all make him a strong contender. And, as Spillane points out, his moderation on social issues will make it tough for Davis to pigeonhole him as he did right-winger Dan Lungren three years ago.

But though the opportunity is certainly there for him, it’s not clear that Riordan is up to the challenge of advancing beyond L.A. politics. Key Democrats chortle about his recent tour of a fiberglass plant in Redding -- a town in Northern California, which the former mayor likes to call “upstate California” (as in “upstate New York”) -- after which the man who would be governor stepped before the microphones and averred as how fiber optics are key to the future.

Some associates wonder if Riordan has the intellectual focus to contest Davis, who, for all his shortcomings, is very disciplined. “This could be a train wreck,” says one. “He doesn‘t have Bill Wardlaw [the investment banker consigliere who broke with Riordan over the recent mayor’s race] to backstop him,” says another. “He doesn‘t have all the people from the Mayor’s Office who wrote the memos. And he won‘t be dealing with a press corps that would let him be absent for 44 days of cancer treatments without reporting what was going on.”