Were New Hampshire Vote Results Linked to a Winter of Discontent?

Political whirl.

* You’ve heard all the other explanations for the New Hampshire presidential primary vote, now hear one from Eugene McCarthy.

It was all a matter of timing, the 75-year-old former U.S. senator from Minnesota told a joint meeting last Friday of the San Diego City Club and the Catfish Club.

In 1968, when McCarthy’s anti-war candidacy upended President Johnson, the New Hampshire primary was in mid-March, “when the weather is getting warmer, when the maple is rising and people are coming to life.”

But now the primary is in the gloom and slushy snow of mid-February, “the worst possible time of the year,” leading to strong showings by the angry Pat Buchanan and the dour Paul Tsongas (and only 88 votes for McCarthy).

“The ancient Romans used to worship their dead in February,” McCarthy said. “Now we make our political decisions in February.”

* How tough is political fund raising this year?

When Walt Ekard held a meeting in his Ramona home for supporters of Dianne Jacob for East County supervisor, Ekard’s daughters decided to tackle head-on the fund-raising problem facing their elders.

Which explains why Megan, 7; Brittany, 11, and Jessica, 3, posted a sign above their lemonade stand: “All Proceeds Go to Jacob ’92.”

* Yes, there is a Randy Cunningham who signed Rep. Bill Lowery’s nomination petition for his 51st District primary fight with Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham.

The two are not one, however. The signer is from Carlsbad; the Duke from Del Mar.

* Eugene McCarthy on Ronald Reagan: “He imagines the past and he remembers the future. The best example of zero-based thinking I’ve ever seen.”

* Dixie cups in your future.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor has challenged all mayoral candidates to take a drug test and release the results. The Big Three--Susan Golding, Peter Navarro and Ron Roberts--have all said yes.

Leading a spokeswoman for Navarro to inquire why Golding and Roberts “will release their urine but not their tax returns?”

A Battle That Grows on You

Growth wars.

Lost amid the outbreak of mayoral campaigning is a side skirmish between the building industry and its nemesis, mayoral candidate Peter Navarro.

The business group that forced the slow-growth initiative by Prevent Los Angelization Now! off the ballot (by convincing a judge it was legally flawed) is now collecting legal fees for its efforts.

The city of San Diego agreed to pay $25,000 and the plumbers’ union (which bankrolled the PLAN! initiative) agreed to $19,000.

But PLAN! decided to take its chances in court and ended up being ordered by a judge to pay $30,000 to San Diegans for Economic Stability.

PLAN! leader Navarro says this shows that the building industry is out to kill the slow growth movement. He says PLAN! will be “out of business” unless a financial “angel” is found:

“It’s a powerful industry we’re up against here, and I’m one of the few people who have spoken up. They crush people like me.”

Mac Strobl, coordinator of San Diegans for Economic Stability, retorts that his group sued the city, not PLAN!, and that PLAN! entered the legal fray voluntarily (as an intervenor) and is now paying the price:

“Peter is great at blaming other people for his mistakes.”

Words, Words, Words

A bit wordy, but interesting.

* Spotted by Dr. George Weston in the student parking lot at Grossmont College.

A license plate: THKX MOM. With the frame: “I’m Not a Spoiled Brat. I’m Just a Bitch.”

* No great shakes.

Press release from a rehab hospital set to open this spring, touting its seismic-sensitive design:

“Continental Rehabilitation Hospital of San Diego . . . may be the safest place to be in the event of one of California’s inevitable earthquakes.”

* There are 12 locations in San Diego County that the brass has ruled off-limits to sailors and Marines.

Of those, 11 are bars, X-rated bookstores, liquor stores or high-turnover motels.

One is a San Diego city park: Willie Henderson Field at 45th Street and Logan Avenue, where drinking and drugs have been a problem.