TIPOFF : FULL KEVLAR JACKET: CLINTON IN CALIFORNIA.

Byline: Rick Orlov

WHEN he was in office, Ronald Reagan was termed the ``Teflon'' president for his ability to remain personally popular amid allegations of wrongdoing by his administration.

Well, if Reagan was made of Teflon, President Clinton must be made of Kevlar.

With continuing controversy over the FBI files and improper campaign donations, the Clinton-Gore ticket continues to surge in public opinion polls in California and elsewhere.

It must be particularly frustrating for the GOP ticket of Bob Dole and Jack Kemp, which has been spending more time and money in California as the election approaches in little more than a week.

``I've never seen anything like this,'' said one gleeful Clinton California adviser, who asked not to be identified. ``The more Dole spends here, the more he goes down. It defies logic.''

California has been good for the president over the past four years. Its voters helped give him victory in 1992. And supporters in the state have donated millions of dollars over the years for his re-election campaign.

But some are wondering how much the president will love California if he is re-elected.

Part of the reason for his success has been the number of Californians - particularly those from Los Angeles - who staffed his administration and provided contacts out here.

Now, there is word coming from Washington that a number of the most politically influential of those are job hunting out here figuring they have done their four-year stint in D.C. and now can return to their real life.

The November issue of Buzz magazine has named its 10 most influential people in Los Angeles and it looks a lot like a list of guests that might attend a party at Mayor Richard Riordan's house.

Riordan is on the list, of course, but it also includes a lot of his cronies.

Among these are Bill Wardlaw, who guided Riordan's election; Steve Soboroff, a special adviser to Riordan and Recreation and Parks Commission chairman; Cardinal Roger Mahony, for whom Riordan once served as counsel; Michael Milken, with whom Riordan has had business dealings; Eli Broad, for whom Riordan once provided legal advice; and Magic Johnson, whom Riordan helped with his theater project at the Crenshaw Plaza.

Riordan also has worked with others on the list, including attorney George Mihlsten and David Geffen of DreamWorks SKG.

The only person with no direct connection to Riordan on the list is radio talk show host Dennis Prager.

In a brief ceremony last week, the Board of Supervisors honored two Democratic legislators - Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman of Van Nuys and state Sen. Hilda Solis of El Monte - who have been particularly helpful to the county's lobbying efforts in Sacramento.

``Truth be told, being recognized is always nice, but this is particularly welcome because being an advocate for Los Angeles County in the Legislature is a very lonely place to be,'' Friedman said.

Friedman said it has gotten better because of the supervisors' increasing personal involvement in lobbying and reaching out to the county delegation.

Much still needs to be done to right some of the wrongs the state had done to the county, taking away huge amounts of county funds to balance its own budget, then blaming the county for having financial problems, she said.

MEDIA WATCH: Who was that passing out copies of the Los Angeles Times at a congressional hearing in Compton last week into allegations the CIA might have been involved in drug dealing in the inner city?

None other than Metro Editor Leo Wolinsky, who stood beside a news rack passing out copies of the Times' Sunday edition with its articles attempting to shoot down the series by the San Jose Mercury News.