He Watches as Friends, Rivals Sweat Out Results : In This Election, Patterson’s Not a Player

The license plates still bear the the words “US Congress,” a bittersweet reminder of the 10 years Jerry M. Patterson spent in Washington as Orange County’s lone Democrat in the House of Representatives.

And as he drove from one election party to another Tuesday night, the radio blaring out the returns, Patterson, 53, was perhaps more alone than ever.

For the first time in 17 years, the former congressman, councilman and mayor was not a player. Watching friends and rivals sweat out election results in their noisy hotel suites, he was the outsider looking in.

“In a way you’re like a fire horse going to the barn,” said Patterson, who lost his congressional seat in 1984 and a Board of Supervisors bid in June. “You feel maybe you ought to be out there and on the ballot.”

Patterson now practices law in Newport Beach and teaches public policy at Cal State Long Beach. So election night began for him not at a political event but in a drab classroom, where he gave a two-hour lecture to six graduate students.

Making the Rounds

Later, however, Patterson felt obliged to make the political rounds, although even that was awkward, as he often stood at the edge of the room sipping wine while others basked in the spotlight. The most strained moment, perhaps, came when Patterson showed up at the Westin South Coast Plaza to pay his political respects to Jim Beam, the Republican supervisorial candidate he lost to in the June primary and then endorsed, partly in the hope that Beam would help retire Patterson’s $100,000 campaign debt.

“Well look who’s here,” said a grinning Beam, who wound up a loser Tuesday night. “My best precinct walker.”

Patterson, it seemed, had become a political Cinderella for whom the clock struck midnight too soon.

Patterson had expected election night to be bad, but his most trying time, it turned out, came a week before when he was walking precincts for Beam. Asked whether voters remembered him, he said, “Yes, yes,” a trace of yearning in his voice. “Then it hit me,” he added. “I had people say things like, ‘I wish you were running.’ Most of them remembered my congressional years and were very sorry I wasn’t running for Congress.”

Patterson lost his congressional seat two years ago to Republican Robert K. Dornan, the fiery conservative.

“One guy who was painting his house told me, ‘It must take real courage to walk for somebody else, somebody you ran against.’ ” Patterson said. “I looked at him, and said, ‘You know, you’re the first person who said it takes courage to do that. It does and thank you for your kind words to me.’ ”

Suddenly Overwhelmed

And all of a sudden, Patterson continued, “I was overwhelmed. I turned--he didn’t see, I don’t think--but I could hardly see the sidewalk as I walked down the street.”

But much to his surprise, Patterson held up well Tuesday night. Anticipating a reporter’s first question Wednesday morning, he shot back, “Yes, I slept well. Like a baby.

“When you’ve been on the ballot as many times as I have been, you almost need to be on the ballot to be validated. You need to know the people are saying they want you. I was a little afraid (Tuesday night) that either friends or enemies would bring that up, saying things like: ‘I’m really sorry that you weren’t on there.’ But I felt much more comfortable about it. It’s kind of a relief in a way to know you’re not going to be accepted or rejected by the voters.”

In fact, Patterson was warmly received by many people during the long election night.

As he walked into the Anaheim hotel suite where members of the Democratic Foundation of Orange County were gathered to watch returns, several people in the room shouted: “Jerry! Jerry!” when they saw him come through the door.

“We’ve been pretty close with him for quite a while,” said Dennis Millar of the Orange County Firefighters Union. “It was just nice to see him again.”

Positive Changes

Calling politics “a jealous mistress,” Patterson, who has twice divorced, said he tries to dwell on the positive changes in his new role as political spectator. He has more time to enjoy life and said his recent “failure and setback” has probably brought him closer to his 26-year-old son, Patrick, and 21-year-old daughter, Jane.

“I’m at peace with myself right now,” Patterson said. “That’s not to say there isn’t nostalgia there. But there’s no envy in this race. I’m really getting a lot of my satisfaction out of teaching now.”

Patterson’s daughter, a psychology student at Virginia Wesleyan College, agreed.

“He misses it, I know,” she said, “but I think he’s got it worked out for the most part.”

So instead of eating the traditional morning-after hotel breakfast with campaign aides, trading stories and laughs about the race before jetting off for a few days of post-election relaxation, Patterson woke up Wednesday morning in his own bed and prepared for a meeting with a client.

He said he had been up until 3 a.m to see how Democratic candidates Sen. Alan Cranston, Dan Griset and others fared.

His girlfriend, Linda Moulton, called to ask how he was feeling, cheerfully reminding him how nice it was Tuesday night not to have to worry about the results.

Looking at how poorly Orange County Democrats fared in Tuesday night’s election, Patterson mused, “I guess I’m glad I wasn’t on the ballot.”