The decision by Senator Dianne Feinstein not to seek the state''s highest office represents the chance of a lifetime-or an opportunity coming too late in the game-for local boy Leon Panetta.

The longtime Central Coast congressman, who was tapped by President Clinton first to head up the Office of Management and Budget and then to whip Clinton''s office into shape as chief of staff, has been mentioned since last spring as a possible contender in the 1998 race for governor of California. All along, Panetta has stated that he had not yet made a decision about running for governor, all the while saying that he would remain in contact with Feinstein, hinting that he would not run against the former San Francisco mayor.

On Tuesday, Panetta-characteristically speaking through a spokesperson-said he was "very disappointed in Senator Feinstein''s decision not to run for governor." He also said that he had "urged [Feinstein] to run," adding that even though it is "obviously late in the campaign season," he would "spend the next few days reassessing my own plans."

In a poll of California voters released last December by the San Francisco-based Field Institute, Panetta came out third in a ranked order of voter preference for governor. At that time, Field information stated that Panetta was known by a little more than half of the electorate.

"There was that brief flurry of Panetta-ism about nine or 10 months ago," says Dan Walters, a syndicated Sacramento-based political columnist. "Then he [Panetta] just disappeared. He was out making money and doing this and that. He''s done nothing in the last nine or 10 months to raise his profile in California. He''s got medium name-recognition, although it''s higher than [millionaire independent candidate Al] Checci."

Naturally, a crucial part of Panetta''s decision-making will be a determination of whether he can build up a big enough war chest to become known outside of Monterey County, where he is a household name.

"Even though [Panetta] was a White House chief of staff, there is a concern that he does not have a California reputation," says Steve Scott, managing editor of the nonpartisan California Journal. "A post like White House chief of staff, which is a non-elected post, is not going to propel someone to great visibility."

Adding to Panetta''s name-recognition challenge is the fact that the three other candidates in the race-Checci, Republican state Attorney General Dan Lungren, and Democratic Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis-have been running for months. A second Democrat, state controller Kathleen Connell, could also enter the race this week.

Kam Kuwata, a political consultant for the Democratic Party who ran Feinstein''s 1992 and 1994 races, and some of the state''s top political reporters writing in the aftermath of Feinstein''s surprise announcement, say the senator may have decided not to run for governor because she didn''t want to duke it out with Checci-a millionaire candidate who''s promised to spend plenty in his quest to become governor. In 1994, Feinstein fought a bitter race against millionaire Republican Michael Huffington-a race that saw the incumbent senator spending $14.5 million to Huffington''s $29.9 million -only to barely squeak through to the finish fine.

Several stories, including reports in both the LA Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, speculated this week that Feinstein had hoped to talk Checci out of running and decided to bail out when Checci refused to budge. The Chronicle''s Matier & Ross column even quoted unnamed sources as saying Democrats-possibly from the Feinstein camp-tried to convince Checchi to drop his bid for governor and run for lieutenant governor instead.

But by waiting, Feinstein "did no favors whatsoever by stringing this out for two years," says Walters, who first heard Feinstein waffle on the governor''s race two years ago.

Could Panetta raise enough money to leap into the race as a viable canddidate in time for the Feb. 4 deadline for filing with the state?

"He could do this," says Gary Patton, a former Santa Cruz County supervisor who ran unsuccessfully for the state assembly and who now serves as legal counsel to the Planning and Conservation League in Sacramento. "If [Feinstein] could bring everything to Leon [Panetta], if Leon makes contact with her and she were willing to do that, it would give him a big leg up."

"It sounds like a number of people in the state who are strong supporters [of Panetta] would be willing to raise the funds," says Kuwata.

But some of that fund raising could come at a cost of some negative publicity. "I think he could raise the money, but in doing so, he risks bringing attention to his connections with White House fund raising," says Scott.

"His name is on so many White House memos," echoes Walters, who adds that Panetta''s record "such as it is, is in Washington, which doesn''t necessarily translate to California."

Nevertheless, Walters'' own handicap gives Panetta a 50-50 chance of entering the race-a race that could be attractive to the Carmel Valley resident if only because the governor''s race looks pretty dismal to state Democrats trying to win the governorship without him.

"The best thing Panetta has going for him is the alternatives are a fairly weak, definitely second-tier candidates," says Walters. cw