McClintock, Predicting Full War Chest for Hope, Quits

Saying he feared he could not match a competitor in fund raising, Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) on Tuesday pulled out of the 21st Congressional District race.

McClintock, a two-term assemblyman, said he was getting out because he believes Tony Hope, son of entertainer Bob Hope, would win the Republican primary by vastly outspending him. He called his decision to quit the race the most difficult of his life.

The congressional seat is now held by Rep. Bobbi Fiedler (R-Northridge), who is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

McClintock said he will seek reelection to the 36th Assembly District seat, which he is expected to win easily.

He withdrew from the congressional race before the campaign officially began despite a poll last month that showed him the clear front-runner among three potential candidates.

But the poll, which he commissioned, also showed a large number of undecided voters, and McClintock predicted Tuesday that Hope could outspend him in the June 3 primary by more than $600,000.

“I have, however, come to the conclusion that even though I am substantially ahead in the polls today, a new candidate has entered the race who has the potential of raising nationally hundreds of thousands of dollars more than we could ever raise locally,” said McClintock, 29.

“I think Tony Hope has the resources and credentials to go all the way,” McClintock said at a press conference at his campaign headquarters in Thousand Oaks. “That’s the reason I’m standing before you today.”

$1 Million War Chest Predicted

McClintock said he had expected to raise $392,000 during the campaign but he anticipated that Hope, whom he considered to be his biggest competitor, would raise $1 million.

Such a financial advantage would enable Hope to spend heavily on television advertising, relatively rare in a congressional campaign because of its expense, McClintock said.

The assemblyman conceded that, because he is not well-known in the Los Angeles County part of the district, a television blitz by Hope could make the difference.

The district, in which Republican voters outnumber Democrats approximately 47% to 42%, extends from eastern Ventura County through parts of the western San Fernando Valley to the Sunland-Tujunja area and includes Santa Catalina Island. About 45% of the district’s voters live in Los Angeles County.

In an interview Tuesday, Hope disputed McClintock’s suggestion that he intended to spend $1 million on a media campaign. Hope, an attorney and former partner of Touche Ross & Co., a Big Eight accounting firm in Washington, said he had planned to spend about $250,000.

He said he still expects to spend that much, even without McClintock in the race, to make voters aware of him. Although Hope is a native of the Valley, he lived out of the district for 10 years before moving to Northridge recently.

Hope said he has always envisioned waging a grass-roots campaign in which he would attend coffee klatches and chicken dinners.

“I have no intention of running a media campaign,” Hope said from his newly opened campaign headquarters in Woodland Hills. “I don’t have in my budget any money for television. That may change, but it was never there.”

One Other Candidate

The only other announced candidate for the GOP primary is Simi Valley Mayor Elton Gallegly. Gallegly, a businessman who expects to spend $400,000 during the campaign, said he hopes McClintock’s supporters will switch their allegiance to him.

Gallegly is expected to emphasize his strong ties to the community and question Hope’s commitment to a district to which he has just recently returned.

McClintock’s victory in the 36th Assembly District race seems assured since his three would-be GOP successors, including his administrative assistant, said they will drop out of the Assembly race.

After announcing his intention to seek the congressional seat in October in hopes of discouraging competitors, McClintock said Tuesday that Hope’s decision to run, announced Feb. 20, caught him by surprise.

The mood at the October press conference was decidedly different from the one held Tuesday. In October, Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), McClintock’s political mentor, jubilantly predicted a congressional win would someday help catapult the young politician to the White House.

Tuesday, McClintock, standing in a tiny room decorated with pictures of the President and Nancy Reagan and Vice President George Bush, remained stoic as reporters asked him if he considered himself a quitter.

Issue of Money

McClintock maintained that he could have won “hands down” if he could have matched Hope’s financial resources. “I think I could do a better job, but the problem is getting that message out,” he said.

McClintock raised about $100,000 for the congressional race by year’s end and had spent about $80,000.

He said he has not decided which candidate to endorse.

McClintock and Hope had kind words for each other Tuesday. “I think he’s a fine young man who will go a long way in politics,” Hope said. “I’ll help him if I can.”