Bates Losing in San Diego; 2 Other Incumbents in Trouble : Congress: Navy fighter shooting down vulnerable Democrat, while Pashayan and Bosco are locked in tight races.

A highly decorated Navy fighter pilot was defeating Democratic Rep. Jim Bates of San Diego on Tuesday, and two other incumbents were locked in tight races with challengers who had sought to link them with the savings and loan debacle.

Bates, pursuing a fifth term as the representative from the 44th District, was trailing GOP challenger Randall (Duke) Cunningham, a colorful campaigner who had described the congressman as “just another MiG” ready to be shot down.

Although Bates exuded confidence going into the election, Republicans viewed the incumbent as vulnerable because he was reprimanded last year by the House Ethics Committee over charges he had sexually harassed female staff members.

Elsewhere in the state, incomplete returns showed Rep. Charles (Chip) Pashayan (R-Fresno) lagging behind Visalia farmer Calvin Dooley, a Democrat. And in a race that may have caught Democrats off guard, four-term North Coast incumbent Douglas Bosco (D-Sebastopol), was trailing an underfunded businessman, Frank Riggs, in the 1st District.

“The trend is going our way,” Dooley said while celebrating with supporters at a Visalia restaurant. “It looks good.”

Pashayan, appearing nervous, declined to talk with the press and closeted himself with aides to monitor the returns.

In two other California races that drew nationwide attention this year, GOP stalwart Rep. Al McCandless was holding a narrow lead over television actor Ralph Waite in Riverside County’s sprawling 37th District, and veteran Rep. George Brown (D-Colton) was fending off Robert Hammock, a San Bernardino County supervisor.

“It looks like the numbers are holding up,” Brown said while watching returns at his campaign headquarters in San Bernardino. But, he added, “I’m not going to claim victory until Bob says he’s lost.”

Despite the handful of close races, most California representatives survived with ease this election year. That means Democrats will continue to hold a wide edge over Republicans in the California House delegation. Before the election, the margin was 27-18.

Only two open House seats were up for grabs in California, and their likely winners symbolize the polar extremes of the state’s political spectrum. Los Angeles Assemblywoman Maxine Waters, a liberal Democrat, was considered a shoo-in to succeed retiring Rep. Augustus F. Hawkins (D-Los Angeles).

And state Sen. John Doolittle, a Republican from Rocklin best known for sponsoring AIDS-related bills deemed hostile to gays, had a comfortable lead in the race for the 14th District seat vacated by Rep. Norman Shumway (R-Stockton).

Accustomed to scoring easy victories throughout their tenures in Congress, Bosco--who won with 63% of the vote in 1988--and Pashayan wrestled this year with challengers whose campaigns exploited an issue used effectively in races across the country--the savings and loan debacle.

Dooley, 36, sought to link Pashayan with Charles Keating, head of the scandal-ridden Lincoln Savings & Loan and the most visible symbol of the S&L; crisis. In 1986, Keating and his family donated $26,000 to Pashayan, and though the congressman returned the money last year, he was recently accused of lobbying federal regulators on Lincoln’s behalf.

While acknowledging he met with Keating within days of receiving his 1986 contributions, Pashayan, 49, insisted his letters and phone calls to regulators were strictly to aid a thrift in his district.

Dooley, a cotton grower, worked hard to paint himself in contrasting colors, emphasizing his ancestors’ agricultural history in the San Joaquin Valley and pledging, if elected, to pursue water and farming policies favoring the “little guy.”

Bosco, whose ardent environmental stands have made him popular with many voters in the Redwood Empire, became vulnerable after he was unfavorably linked to a failed thrift in his district.