GOP Sees Ideological Link to Asian-Americans : Politics: Republicans have outmaneuvered the Democrats in assimilating this growing population.

Nationally speaking, it’s a fairly small neighborhood, but in the last few years the Asian-American communities in northern Orange County have surely been among the most heavily trafficked political territories anywhere.

Today’s visit by President Bush in Fountain Valley caps a three-year parade of Republican luminaries that includes Vice President Dan Quayle, First Lady Barbara Bush, U.S. Sen. John Seymour, two California governors--Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian--as well as numerous other state and national figures.

Experts from both parties say the voting profile of Asian-Americans is still evolving and largely unexplored, but Republicans clearly sense a major opportunity.

“This is fresh new political ground to plow . . . and to reap a harvest from,” Orange County Republican Chairman Thomas Fuentes said. “The Republican Party realizes that in order to remain the party of leadership, we must have the continued involvement of the growing segments of our population.”

Sung-Chull Lee, assistant professor of political science at UC Irvine, added: “I think the potential (impact) will be enormous because in the past, the Asian-American community has hardly played any role. This is the beginning.”

Bush’s visit is being billed as a nonpolitical recognition of the widely varied Asian-American cultures now represented in the United States. Bush designated May as Asian Pacific Heritage Month, and a White House official said that today’s speech will be the first time the President has addressed Asian-Americans.

The noon-hour event at Fountain Valley’s Mile Square Park will highlight at least 17 Asian and Pacific cultures that are represented in the United States including Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Hmong, Filipino, Cambodian, Laotian, Thai and Indian.

Some groups, mainly those fleeing repressive communist governments in Southeast Asia, lean toward the Republican Party. Experts say others, like Japanese-Americans, are more Democratic. And many groups have not demonstrated any political preference.

An article by three California college professors published last month in the American Journal of Political Science suggested “that immigrants from China, Korea and Southeast Asia become more Republican with increased exposure to American politics (while) other Asian immigrants and subsequent generations of Asian-Americans exhibit no such trends in either the direction of their party preferences or in partisan intensity.”

Those varied political attitudes distinguish the Asian-American community from other major ethnic groups in the United States such as Latinos or blacks. Those groups have been largely drawn to the Democratic Party because of its advocacy of civil rights, labor unions and anti-discrimination laws.

Experts say many immigrants from Southeast Asia are attracted to politics by a different set of issues, including the anti-communist rhetoric of some Republican leaders as well as the pro-business attitude of the party.

“Basically, the Indochinese are anti-communists, and that is the bottom line for them,” said Tony Chen, director of Asian Republican activities for the Republican National Committee in Washington. “Other groups identify with less government and entrepreneurship.

“Free enterprise, that’s how they started. Those people can certainly identify more with Republican ideology than Democratic.”

The Republican effort has been especially productive since Democrats have not been as active. The state Democratic Party said, for example, that it did not have a liaison with the Asian-American community.

“I think the Democratic Party fell into the trap of feeling that all people of color fall into the Democratic Party,” said Maeley Tom, Asian-American affairs director for state Senate Majority Leader David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles). The district of Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) is home to the largest Vietnamese population outside of Ho Chi Minh City, yet the population still makes up barely 6% of the district and even a smaller portion of voters.

“The voting patterns are still developing because the communities are still learning about the system,” said Dennis Catron, chairman of the ethnic inclusion programs for the state GOP.