Bergeson Rode Wave of Winning Women : Politics: It’s the female candidates’ year, and while the lieutenant governor nominee hit fellow Republican Seymour hard, he couldn’t make himself hit her back.

Picking through the political rubble Wednesday, both sides in the bitter Republican lieutenant governor primary campaign agreed on at least one major reason that Orange County state Sen. Marian Bergeson trounced cross-county rival Sen. John Seymour: She is a woman.

Both Orange County legislators said that in addition to Bergeson’s solid record as a public official, her victory in the statewide primary reflects a rising tide of sentiment favoring women politicians, viewed as relatively free of corruption and attuned to the issues most on the electorate’s mind.

And when it came down to old-fashioned political tactics in the lieutenant governor’s race, a downtrodden Seymour (R-Anaheim) said Wednesday that he just couldn’t bring himself to verbally attack his female challenger. Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) frequently attacked him as an opportunistic politician who had flip-flopped on the abortion issue.

“The honest-to-God’s truth is, I just have a tough time picking on any woman,” said Seymour. “That’s the way my mom raised me. It’s very difficult to come out swinging.”

Even when Seymour decided to counterpunch Bergeson, the tactic backfired and hurt his standing with voters, said Seymour’s political consultant, Eileen Padberg of Orange County.

“She would just beat him up, slash and cut, and be real nasty,” said Padberg. “And when he responded, it worked against us. It’s very tough running against a woman.”

Bergeson acknowledged that she benefited from the move toward favoring women office seekers. But her assessment of why she and other women did well in Tuesday’s election was somewhat different.

“What you have is a combination of very qualified women and issues that women can more directly relate to,” she said. “With that combination, you are seeing, not necessarily a gender gap, but you are seeing an opportunity (for women) to provide leadership.”

The undercurrent of voter favor toward women candidates was most evident in former San Francisco Mayor Diane Feinstein’ triumph over Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. A Los Angeles Times exit poll Tuesday found that 80% of those voting for Feinstein agreed with the statement: “It’s time we had a woman governor.”

Bergeson said years of involvement in issues important to women--education, the environment and ethics--were enough to draw support from female voters on Tuesday despite her staunch opposition to legalized abortion. Her victory, she said, proved that, “Frankly, you can be a very strong pro-life candidate and still win on women’s issues.”

Consultant Padberg doubted Wednesday whether Bergeson’s anti-abortion position could weather a more high-profile and bruising campaign against popular Democratic incumbent Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, who is seeking his third term in November.

For the time being, however, Padberg said Bergeson was riding a wave that has made the 1990s the “decade for women.”

“This is a year for women candidates and there are a lot of reasons,” said Padberg. “The voters in general are a little bit more distrusting because of the ethics problems. All the people who have been indicted and had serious ethical problems have been men.”

Besides the gender issue, Seymour and Padberg said Bergeson pulled out a victory Tuesday because anti-abortion forces conducted intensive telephone bank operations to inspire conservative voters in Orange, San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties--all areas covered by Bergeson’s 37th Senate District. She took between 59% and 80% of the vote in those crucial Southern California counties, as well as Los Angeles, unofficial vote totals show.

In Orange County, Bergeson bested Seymour by 59% to 41%, a showing that Bergeson credited to her network of volunteers. Padberg blamed Seymour’s poor showing on low voter turnout.

Throughout the race, the main difference between the Orange County legislators was abortion. Seymour, once publicly opposed to abortion, switched his position last year after abortion rights activists won key California legislative campaigns.

Bergeson attacked Seymour for the switch, and the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition in Orange County said Wednesday the abortion debate was also a key factor in the Republican race. Even those who didn’t agree with Bergeson’s abortion stance were scared off by the perception that Seymour was a “wishy-washy” politician, he said.

A spokesman for the California Abortion Rights Action League in Los Angeles said the Bergeson-Seymour race, although a statewide campaign, didn’t command the group’s full attention as did previous legislative contests where abortion was a key issue.

CARAL endorsed Seymour, but didn’t send in volunteers or donations to shore up his campaign because the group is already committed to helping Democrat McCarthy, who is an abortion rights advocate, said Peter Scranton.