CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / 46TH DISTRICT : Ryan Begins Campaign to Oust Dornan : The former Superior Court judge says her congressional bid will show she is not a ‘one-issue’ candidate.

Declaring it “a good year for women candidates,” former Superior Court Judge Judith M. Ryan on Wednesday officially kicked off her campaign to unseat conservative Rep. Robert K. Dornan.

Her formal entry into the race for the seat in the newly formed 46th District followed pressure from Dornan and Orange County Republican Chairman Tom Fuentes that she stay out of the June 2 Republican primary.

Of the conservative Garden Grove Republican who has been a congressman representing Los Angeles and Orange counties for the past 14 years, she said: “I think he’s vulnerable if people look at the record. I cannot find any legislation sponsored by Mr. Dornan that has anything to do with the problems and needs of this district. These people here do not have jobs, they are worried about education.”

Although she favors abortion rights and Dornan is anti-abortion, Ryan said her campaign will demonstrate that she is not a “one-issue” candidate.

In a later interview, Dornan repeated his claim that were it not for the abortion issue, Ryan would not even be in the race. He also said that First Lady Barbara Bush would make a campaign appearance for him before the primary, and a “Republican Women for Bob Dornan” committee is being organized.

And in a sign of the campaign to come, Dornan appeared to turn up the heat by vowing to not treat Ryan differently because she is a woman. “I am going to run just as if she were any other person and not pull my shots,” Dornan said.

He called Ryan a “stealth-commuter candidate” because she lives in Yorba Linda, outside the district, and said he would send her maps comparing the new district to his current district.

Dornan represents the 38th District, which is in northwestern Orange County and includes parts of Santa Ana and Garden Grove, where he lives. He said the maps would show Ryan that he has a better understanding of the new district, which also includes neighborhoods in Santa Ana and Garden Grove.

Dornan said he has been endorsed by the mayors in those cities, as well as four of the five Orange County supervisors.

Joining Ryan at her news conference was Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, who had endorsed her Tuesday. Ryan has also picked up the support of South County developer Kathryn G. Thompson, who will serve as finance co-chairwoman.

Ryan admitted an uphill fund-raising fight as her campaign becomes organized, particularly since she did not begin considering running until a couple of weeks ago.

She contacted officeholders to inform them of her plans but did not press them for endorsements, she said, because of pressure Dornan has placed on some of her potential backers to stay out of the race.

“I absolutely have not asked for endorsements,” Ryan said, “because I recognize in this kind of a situation that could be very awkward because you have a long-term congressman who has developed relationships, and I really did not want to put any pressure on anyone.”

Members of the nonprofit Women In Business and the Hispanic Republican Committee of Orange, two local groups, were among the audience at the news conference. In separate interviews, they claimed Dornan is vulnerable on issues relating to women and minorities, but said their respective groups had not made a decision about who to endorse in the race.

Ryan called herself politically “naive,” but she said her judicial background and other experience would help her work with the diverse community that makes up the new congressional district, which is almost evenly split between Democratic and Republican voters, and where about half of the population is Latino.

“Those who know and work with me know my ability to approach a problem, and my persistence in seeing a problem to a resolution and (finding) an effective solution,” Ryan said.

She listed the economy, the environment, crime and human rights--and not foreign policy--as the issues that would guide her campaign, she said, because those are the issues important to local voters.