Democracy by the Shovelful

It’s shaping up to be a busy fall for voters in coastal Orange County.

First, there will be a special primary election Oct. 4 to replace Rep. Christopher Cox, a Republican from Newport Beach who resigned this month to become chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Then, a statewide special election called by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled for Nov. 8.

And on Dec. 6, a special general election will be held for Cox’s House seat if no candidate wins a majority of the vote in October.

That’s an election a month. And that’s not counting another special election that will be needed if one of the congressional hopefuls, state Sen. John Campbell (R-Irvine), wins, leaving open his seat in the Legislature.

“That’s way too much democracy,” joked political consultant David Ellis with Delta Partners, who lives in Newport Beach. “We’ll be getting plenty of practice voting.”

The governor on Monday set the date for the special election to replace Cox, who resigned Aug. 2. Unlike regular primaries, special elections allow voters to choose among all candidates, regardless of party. Any candidate grabbing a majority of the vote wins outright, though that rarely happens.

The back-to-back elections ensure that candidates will bombard voters with absentee ballot applications and campaign mailers of all kinds, a strategy that has paid off in past campaigns.

Orange County’s last special election -- for a county supervisorial seat in 2003, won by Bill Campbell -- saw 70% of votes cast by mail.

So far, seven candidates have declared or said they’re interested in the rare congressional vacancy, all the more attractive because there are no term limits for Congress, as there are for the state Legislature.

The 48th Congressional District is one of the most vote-rich seats in the nation for Republicans, with GOP voters outnumbering Democrats nearly 2 to 1. Cox was first elected in 1988 from a field of more than a dozen Republican candidates and parlayed it into a position of House leadership.

Among the declared candidates for the seat are Republicans Campbell and former Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer of Newport Beach. Democrats John Graham, a UC Irvine professor who has run three times against Cox, and newcomer Steve Young, an attorney from Newport Beach, have indicated they will run, along with Jim Gilchrist of Mission Viejo, representing the American Independent Party.

Also considering the race is former Rep. Robert K. Dornan, who lives in Virginia but is registered to vote in Sunset Beach. Republican Edward A. Suppe of Newport Beach couldn’t be reached to confirm his reported interest in the race. The deadline for candidate filing will be 5 p.m. Monday.

Campbell has acknowledged that the short campaign will be a disadvantage. The Legislature’s fall session began Monday and ends Sept. 9. Of the seven weeks before the election to replace Cox, Campbell will be in Sacramento for four of them.

But there are advantages, he said: “A short campaign also means you don’t have to spend as much money.” Campbell has opened an Irvine campaign office, mailed an introductory brochure to voters and begun planting yard signs. He has also nabbed a coveted endorsement from Schwarzenegger.

On Monday, Brewer proposed another campaign staple: candidate debates. She suggested that all candidates be invited and that the events be held on Fridays or the weekends to accommodate Campbell’s schedule. Her proposed topics: national security, including border control; domestic issues such as taxes and government spending; and social issues, including stem cell research, abortion and the cost and availability of prescription drugs.

“We’ll wait until after Sept. 9 if we have to,” Brewer campaign consultant Harvey Englander said. “John Campbell is not going to be able hide behind just direct mail.”

Democrat Graham said he found hope in this month’s near-win by Democrat Paul Hackett in a Republican House district in Ohio. Hackett, a Marine reservist who served in the Iraq war, criticized the Bush administration’s handling of the war and Middle East policies, positions that resonated with many war-weary voters.

Hackett lost to Republican Jean Schmidt by about 3,000 votes.

“I expect that race to be a model for what can be done here,” Graham said Monday. “We have Orange County folks dying in Iraq, and the Republicans aren’t going to want to talk about it.”