300 County Democrats Mix Stetsons With Strategy at Annual Barbecue

Wearing Stetson hats and cowboy boots, 300 Orange County Democrats gathered at the O’Neill Ranch near San Juan Capistrano on Saturday to raise about $50,000 and promise Republicans a fight Nov. 4.

Although the county is predominantly Republican, it need not be a solid bastion of Republican representation, congressional candidate Richard Robinson told Democrats attending the $100-per-person barbecue.

“The problem is this: The press, I guess somewhat legitimately, has created the image of Orange County as to the right of Godzilla and Genghis Khan. It is not,” said Robinson, a six-term Democratic assemblyman from Garden Grove who is hoping to unseat conservative Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) this year.

“We have had a congressional seat for almost 25 years--except for this adventure with Dornan for the last 1 1/2,” Robinson said.

“We’ve had one member of the Assembly and sometimes two (who were Democrats). Some of you may not remember, but Bill Dannemeyer (now a conservative Republican congressman from Fullerton) served with (former county Assemblymen) Dick Hanna and Ken Corey in the Assembly as a Democrat.”

Swing County

Noting that Orange County is a “swing county,” which Democrats running for statewide office cannot afford to lose by more than 200,000 votes, Robinson urged his fellow Democrats to work from now until the election. That would not only help him to win but should help candidates like U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif) win Orange County, Robinson said.

Clad in lizard-skin boots, jeans and a Stetson hat, Robinson was one of a dozen local and statewide candidates to speak Saturday at this traditional Western barbecue and fund-raiser for the county Democratic Party.

The money raised is intended for get-out-the-vote efforts just before the election, including telephone banks to call registered Democrats in the county. Local party Chairman John Hanna said he believed the event had grossed the largest amount of any county party fund-raiser since 1978.

For nearly every election year since 1974, Democrats have gathered under the oak trees at Rancho Santa Margarita, former state party Chairman Richard O’Neill’s 42,000-acre ranch.

As usual, the barbecue was held at the end of a rutted dirt road in the box canyon where the O’Neill family and their neighbors used to round up their cattle and brand them. Afterward, when the work was done, the families would gather for steak and beer, O’Neill said.

Spirit of the Roundup

These days, the cattle and branding irons are gone but the spirit of the roundup is still there. “It gives you a feeling of camaraderie, that you’re with friends with the same goals,” said marketing consultant Angela Anand.

Added her husband, Rajen Anand, a professor, “Even if we don’t win Orange County, every vote counts.”

And it still was a roundup, Robinson explained. “The purpose of this is to round up the voters the first Tuesday of November. This helps by rounding up the money and the volunteers.”

Robinson, along with many of the guests, had pleasant memories of previous roundups. But he said he was glad the burro race had been omitted from this year’s festivities. He said he won the race one year, “but I could not walk the next day.”

Others remembered the year it rained and the press bus following President Jimmy Carter into the canyon got stuck in the mud. The reporters were “furious,” O’Neill said. Not only did they have to walk through the mud, but by the time they arrived there was nothing to eat but Mexican food, so they sent out for hamburgers. This year, the road was dry and there was plenty of food, not only for reporters but for political candidates. And plenty of candidates were there--among them Sen. Alan Cranston, Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and Gray Davis, the Democratic candidate for state controller.

Cranston Promises to Win

Each of the statewide candidates spoke to the crowd. Cranston promised not only to win statewide Nov. 4 but to carry Orange County as well.

With county registration 54.1% Republican and only 35.6% Democratic, that could prove difficult. “I don’t know that we’re going to win it (the county),” conceded Kam Kuwata, Cranston’s press secretary.

Still, Cranston, like the other Democrats at this gathering, was upbeat. “Make sure we carry this county,” the senator told O’Neill just before he left.

“Well, we’ll carry half of it,” O’Neill promised.