CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / U.S. SENATE : Lyn Nofziger Joins Reagan Alumni on Huffington Team

Republican Mike Huffington’s Senate campaign headquarters began to look even more like a Ronald Reagan Administration alumni meeting this week with the addition of ex-White House communications director Lyn Nofziger.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s campaign was getting advice from another presidential-level voice in Paul Begala, the political adviser in the Clinton White House. Begala said he would not be on the senator’s campaign payroll, but he was providing advice as “part of my work for the party.”

The newcomers join staffs for both candidates that are already stacked with nationally known veterans. The high-level interest reflects the stakes involved in California’s Senate race, where national leaders from both political parties say the outcome could be an indicator of President Clinton’s chances for reelection in 1996.

Huffington’s campaign said Nofziger, President Reagan’s former press secretary, will help advise the campaign on media strategy. He will continue to work out of his office in Washington, commuting periodically to the campaign’s headquarters in Costa Mesa.

Nofziger was brought into the campaign by Edward J. Rollins, who managed Reagan’s 1984 reelection and served in the White House as a political adviser. Rollins joined the Huffington campaign last month.

The Republican Senate campaign also includes Richard Wirthlin, who served as the pollster for the Reagan White House, and Ken Khachigian, a former Reagan speech writer.

Huffington’s campaign also announced a number of other staff changes that were portrayed as a reorganization to prepare for the fall campaign. They include a new campaign manager, James Moore, who moved to California recently from a job in Alexandria, Va., with Rollins’ consulting company. Former campaign manager Bob Schuman moved back to his home in San Diego, but remains on the payroll as a senior adviser.

Also joining Nofziger on the campaign’s communications staff is Brian Lungren, a Sacramento-based consultant and brother of state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren.