For most San Diegans, the mayoral race of the year 2000 was right here at home, between Judge Dick Murphy and county supervisor Ron Roberts. More than $3 million was lavished on the campaign by the two candidates and their many primary challengers. Generous developers, property owners, lawyers, cable-TV executives, along with lobbyists and favor-seekers of all stripes, made the local electoral battle a fundraisers' paradise.

But San Diego is not the only city where the political action is. Just up the coast in Los Angeles, 24 candidates ran in this month's mayoral primary, and many of them had their hands out to financial angels and special interests based in San Diego County. A little over two weeks ago, on April 10, the top two vote-getters, state Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa and L.A. city attorney James Hahn, emerged from the bitter primary fray.

They face a runoff election on June 5, which means that their fundraising race will become even more intense in the six weeks to come. A key to winning the race is believed to be which of the candidates can successfully woo the backers of Steve Soboroff, the Republican endorsed by outgoing mayor Richard Riordan. Soboroff, with 21 percent of the vote, placed third in the primary to Villaraigosa, who got 30 percent, and Hahn, who received 25.

But unlike the Murphy-Roberts race, which pitted builders, architects, and labor unions for Roberts against Murphy's crew of silk-stocking Republican lawyers and wealthy La Jolla "Greens," the political leanings of San Diego donors in Los Angeles have been much less predictable. L.A. politics is a lot more left of center than San Diego's, and even the most conservative San Diego Republicans, such as attorney John Davies, an old-line Republican stalwart who is counted as one of ex-governor Pete Wilson's best friends, find themselves providing financial succor to liberal Democrats.

In addition to Davies, those San Diego Republicans who gave to Democrats include Julie Meier Wright, the ex-Pete Wilson aide who heads up the San Diego Economic Development Commission; Rancho Santa Fe economist Art Laffer, whose supply-side theories were the backbone of President Ronald Reagan's economic policies; and investment banker and one-time C. Arnholt Smith crony James Mulvaney. All appear to have their own motives for their sudden change of allegiance.

The San Diego push is expected to become even more intense because Hahn and Villaraigosa will need every donor they can line up. Under L.A.'s campaign-finance law, which provides public matching funds, each candidate is limited to raising $1.76 million but can only accept $1000 per person.

That may put Hahn at a major disadvantage in the coming election; Villaraigosa has been endorsed by the state Democratic party and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, each of which poured huge amounts of money into his primary campaign and are expected to spend even more in the runoff.

Using a loophole in city law, both the party and the labor unions acted independently of Villaraigosa's campaign, thus exempting them from the $1000 contribution maximum. They also don't have to report the source of their money until well after the runoff election, based on the city's interpretation of state Proposition 37, passed last November.

Hahn and others have been lobbying the city council to adopt new standards to force the disclosure of the source of the independent expenditures by labor and the Democrats, so far with little success. Last week, the Los Angeles Times quoted state Democratic party chairman Art Torres as saying the party planned an "aggressive" independent effort to get Villaraigosa elected but would not disclose how much money the Democrats planned to commit.

Between them, L.A.'s top six mayoral contenders have tapped San Diego County for more than $100,000 of campaign support during the primary, according to a review of financial disclosure records on file in the office of the Los Angeles city Ethics Commission.

The records show that frontrunner Villaraigosa picked up $1000 from a host of San Diegans, including Republican lawyers John Davies and Chris Frahm, a former member of the San Diego County water board, which is frequently at odds with the City of Los Angeles and the Metropolitan Water Authority over a plan for San Diego to buy and ship water directly from farmers in the Imperial Valley. (Frahm's firm is now suing MWD on the San Diego water board's behalf.) Attorney Michael Thorsnes of Thorsnes Bartolotta & McGwuire also gave $1000.

Other $1000 Villaraigosa donors included Democratic state senator Steve Peace, the producer of the Killer Tomato movies, as well as two Peace-affiliated firms, National City Civic Center Drive Associates and Killer Tomato Entertainment Inc. Coronado assemblyman M. Howard Wayne gave $700 and ex-assemblywoman Denise Ducheny gave $250. Keith Talmadge of the law firm of Egger & Talmadge also made the maximum contribution, as did Virginia Olshan of Jelley Properties and John Klinedinst of Klinedinst Fliehman; and James Schultz of Cunningham, Lindsey gave $500.

Villaraigosa was one of two Hispanic candidates in the primary race. The other, Democratic congressman Xavier Becerra, also picked up his share of San Diego money from a surprising variety of sources, both Democrat and Republican. Most prominent among the local Becerra backers was U.S. Attorney Gregory Vega, a Clinton appointee, with a $1000 contribution. Other donors included Yvonne Campos of the U.S. Attorney's office ($1000); George Aguilar of the U.S. Department of Justice ($500); Christopher Tenorio of the U.S. Department of Justice ($400); SDG&E lobbyist Ralph Inzunza, since elected to the San Diego City Council ($250); and former Gray Davis aide Vincent Hall ($250). The United Domestic Workers of America gave $1000, as did Gigante Holdings International of Otay Mesa.

Qualcomm was represented by lobbyist William Bold, who gave $500, and Jeffrey Jacobs, who also contributed $500. Republican Julie Meier Wright, of the taxpayer-funded Economic Development Corporation, is listed as giving $125. Roberta Sistos, of the law firm of Barbosa Garcia LLP, gave $1000.

Vega's involvement with Becerra, the first Latino named to the House Ways and Means Committee and a state-assembly veteran, has raised eyebrows in light of the congressman's controversial lobbying of President Bill Clinton on behalf of a Los Angeles drug dealer. Carlos Vignali had served 6 years of a 15-year sentence on a cocaine-selling conspiracy rap when he was pardoned by Clinton on January 20. It later emerged that Clinton's brother-in-law Hugh Rodham had received $200,000 to work behind the scenes on Vignali's behalf.

Then it was revealed that Vignali's wealthy father Horacio, an L.A. parking-lot magnate who made hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to state Democrats, including both Becerra and Villaraigosa, had told L.A.'s U.S. Attorney Alejandro N. Mayorkas to call the White House on Vignali's behalf. In addition to Becerra, Mayorkas, and Villaraigosa, other noted Democrats who lobbied Clinton about Vignali included state senator Richard Polanco; Los Angeles County sheriff Lee Baca; county supervisor Gloria Molina; and former Representative Esteban Torres. Los Angeles Roman Catholic cardinal Roger M. Mahony also put in a good word for the convicted drug dealer.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal last month, Becerra acknowledged calling Clinton. "I asked the President to review the case. I asked him honestly and openly. Unlike others, I didn't lie about my role and I didn't deny what I had done. Unlike others, I didn't say the man in jail should be released, or that he was innocent. I said in my letter that some of these community leaders -- Cardinal Roger Mahony included -- believe that there is reason to review the case. I also ask you [President Clinton] to review the case."

The Vignali flap resulted in the resignation of a top deputy in the U.S. Attorney's Los Angeles office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Duncan DeVille complained that his boss, Mayorkas, had compromised the office's integrity. "I frequently place in danger both my life and, more importantly, the lives of law enforcement agents, in the pursuit of drug dealers. Accordingly I cannot support your recent actions in assisting in the pardon," wrote DeVille in his resignation letter. For his part, Mayorkas told the Los Angeles Times, "I think in hindsight I should not have made that call to the White House."

Another Democrat who picked up considerable financial support from San Diego sources of both parties was state treasurer Kathleen Connell. Rancho Santa Fe's Art Laffer gave $1000, as did his wife Tracy. Laffer's company provides economic consulting services and investment advice to various companies and public agencies.

James Mulvaney also gave $1000. Mulvaney is chairman of the California Higher Education Loan Authority (CHELA); Connell oversees a state-sponsored partnershwww.blackgoku.comip with CHELA. Likewise, Brian Mulvaney of Grubb and Ellis gave $1000. Givers on the Democratic side included Leonard Friedman of Coronado, a onetime partner of the late M. Larry Lawrence. Friedman has large real estate holdings in the Los Angeles area and once claimed in a recorded document that he, not Lawrence, was the actual owner of the Hotel del Coronado.

Timothy Stamnitz and Lucy Demian of San Diego's Global Photon Systems are each listed as giving the Kathleen Connell campaign $1000, and the company itself is down for an additional $2000. Late last year, Global Photon received approval from the state Coastal Commission to lay a fiber-optic cable off the coast from Morro Bay to San Diego. Connell is one of three members of the State Lands Commission, which has considerable say over cable-laying operations in coastal areas.

Villaraigosa's runoff rival, L.A. city attorney James Hahn, claimed backing from a number of San Diego business types, including San Diego Yellow Cab general manager Anthony Palmeri and his wife Barbara. But by far the largest group of Hahn donors from San Diego were members of the law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP. In September 1999, Hahn recommended that the L.A. city council retain Milberg, Weiss to handle the city's lawsuit against the gun industry. The council had earlier retained the firm to handle its tobacco-related litigation.

According to Hahn's disclosure, Milberg, Weiss-related $1000 donors included John Stoia, Jr.; Helen Hodges; G. Paul Howes; Randell Steinmeyer; Melvyn Weiss; Patrick Coughlin; and Darren Robbins. Spencer Burkholz, Travis Downs III, and Christopher Yurcek are listed as giving $500 each.

Finally, Republican Steve Soboroff, the favorite of incumbent L.A. mayor Richard Riordan, did as poorly in the San Diego fundraising derby as he did in the election. Among his few local contributions were $1000 from Coronado's Friedman, as well as $1000 each from border-area developer Sam Marasco; John McGinley of Penske Corp; John N. Blake, Inc.; and Evan S. Ravich, a lawyer who has been associated with the politically connected downtown firm of Sullivan, Wertz, McDade. Firm partner John Wertz represented ex-San Diego city councilwoman Valerie Stallings during the Padres influence-buying scandal that forced her to resign in January.