Zschau Takes His Case to the GOP in Irvine, Hammers at Cranston

Tapping the candidate in the stomach, Erma Sanders gave Republican Senate contender Ed Zschau a bit of advice. “The problem is you’ve got to get known,” the Irvine woman said, emphasizing her words with another jab.

Stumping in Orange County on Sunday, the Los Altos congressman was trying to do just that as he met with 150 conservative Republicans over brunch at the Irvine Marriott.

To whistles and loud applause, Zschau detailed what he called the “enormous difference” between himself and his opponent, Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), on everything from economic policy to foreign affairs.

“Take a walk down memory lane,” Zschau urged as he quoted a series of newspaper headlines of Cranston’s pronouncements over the past six years. One had Cranston in 1980 predicting that a major tax cut would be followed by inflation. “Alan Cranston, you were wrong,” Zschau said.

On Foreign Policy

On foreign policy, Cranston in 1983 said that “negotiating from a position of strength would not work,” Zschau said, adding, “Alan Cranston, you were wrong.”

Complaining that Cranston would not debate him, Zschau likened Cranston to the 1930s radio character, “The Shadow,” whose real name was Lamont Cranston.

“I don’t know if there’s any relationship between the two but the approach is similar--to be invisible, to cloud men’s minds,” Zschau said, neglecting to mention that the elusive “Shadow” was something of a hero who battled the forces of evil.

Zschau vowed to be “a strong voice like (Sen.) Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) has been” for President Reagan’s policies, and that together they would be a “dynamic duo.”

“California has not had much of a vote in the Senate because on two-thirds of the votes, Alan Cranston has canceled (Wilson) out,” Zschau said. “Pete and I, working together, will be a dynamic duo, working for a strong foreign policy and a strong economy.”

Before Zschau spoke at the reception sponsored by the Orange County Coordinating Republican Assembly, he told reporters that he discounted the latest poll by the Orange County Register. The survey, released Sunday, gave Zschau only a narrow lead of 48% to Cranston’s 42% among Orange County voters. If Zschau is to win statewide, many political strategists believe that he must win by a wider margin in Orange County to offset heavy Democratic turnout elsewhere in the state.

Results of Own Poll

Zschau said the survey was “poles apart” from one conducted recently by his own polling firm, Decision-Making Information of Santa Ana. In a recent tracking, he claimed that the poll showed “we had 85% of the Republican conservatives statewide.” His press secretary, Sandra Conlan, said a recent DMI survey showed Zschau ahead of Cranston by 15 percentage points.

As part of the effort to woo the conservatives, Zschau’s former primary opponent, television commentator Bruce Herschensohn, who won heavy backing from some of Orange County’s most conservative Republicans, introduced Zschau as “the man who must win nine days from now.”

Zschau has been working hard to attract the support of Orange County conservatives, some of whom were avid Herschensohn fans and did not favor the moderate Zschau. Earlier this month, some were saying that they might not vote in the Senate race or that they might even vote for Cranston.

But Sunday, many of the former Herschensohn holdouts said they had changed their mind and would back Zschau. “That’s right--right-wingers for Ed!” said developer Buck Johns.

‘Not Our Dream Candidate’

Chuck Montero, a former chairman of the local Republican Assembly, said Zschau “was not exactly our dream candidate, but I can’t not vote for Zschau.”

Assembly president Ken Ditty said he figured that Zschau’s support among conservatives was “a toss-up. There are some old, hard-core people who will not change. But he’s got a larger percentage of CRA members than he had a month ago. Some are on the fence and this (Sunday’s gathering) could push them over.”

But the Zschau campaign has another plan to “push them over,” targeting major campaign appearances in Orange County just days before the Nov. 4 election, and side-by-side with a man the conservatives cannot ignore.

Next Saturday, Zschau and President Reagan will speak at a fund-raiser at the Anaheim Hilton. On Nov. 3, a day before the election, Zschau and the President will appear at a campaign rally at the Pacific Amphitheatre.