Dornan and Rohrabacher Claim Victory

In a race that became a major test for the national abortion-rights movement, conservative Rep. Robert K. Dornan turned back a spirited challenge from Republican Judith M. Ryan and appeared on his way to a solid victory Tuesday in Orange County’s 46th Congressional District primary.

Dornan held a comfortable lead over Ryan, a former Superior Court judge making her first run for elected office, with more than half of the precincts reporting in the Republican primary.

“I found friends in this race I never thought I had,” Dornan said as he declared victory well before midnight. “I can stand tall and win at 60% when they throw the kitchen sink and the sewer below the sink at me. . . . This race was condensed down to 11 days of hand-to-hand combat in the mailbox.”

In the other hot congressional contest in Orange County, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was bouncing a pair of challengers late Tuesday after a bitter election battle in the 45th District Republican primary. Rohrabacher, who also declared victory before midnight with half the vote in, would go on in November to face Democrat Patricia McCabe, who seemed to be scoring a solid victory over three challengers.

“I was never worried for one minute about losing this campaign,” said Rohrabacher, who suggested that his controversial positions on illegal immigrants helped boost his vote tally. “It gave me votes because people realized that I was willing to take a tough stand in the face of personal attacks.”

It was a good night overall for incumbents as Reps. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) and Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) scored big victories in their primaries. State Sen. Ed Royce (R-Anaheim) was unopposed for the congressional seat held by Rep. William E. Dannemeyer, an unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Senate.

But the marquee race in Orange County was the fight between Dornan and Ryan, which drew national attention to the 46th District in central Orange County.

Together, the candidates spent upward of $500,000. Ryan benefited from the assistance of the National Abortion Rights Action League, which plowed more than $300,000 into the race to defeat Dornan.

Kate Michelman, president of the group, flew into Orange County on Tuesday night to await the results with Ryan, and continued to talk optimistically despite the discouraging election returns.

“If we are not able to defeat him tonight we will have set the stage by building a political base to carry on in 1994,” Michelman said.

Although the challenger sought to make Dornan’s foibles as a congressman the central issue of the campaign, the fiery incumbent suggested the contest was little more than a battle over abortion.

Dornan blasted Ryan and abortion-rights activists up to the last minute, saying in an interview aired Tuesday afternoon on KNBC-TV that “every lesbian spear chucker in this country is hoping I get defeated.”

With the flood of campaign cash, voters were deluged with more than a dozen letters and campaign brochures during the waning days of the race, as well as radio and newspaper ads, phone calls and door-to-door visits.

Dornan sought to portray Ryan as a single-issue candidate controlled by liberal special interests.

The incumbent attempted to counter Ryan’s claim that he isn’t supportive of women’s issues by mailing letters with endorsements from GOP women. And recently, he touted his conservative base with a press release supporting Vice President Dan Quayle’s attack on the television show “Murphy Brown” for its program showing a baby born out of wedlock.

Even as Dornan was making his victory speech late Tuesday night, the Democratic primary remained in a tight three-way fight between Robert John Banuelos, a senior services administrator, attorney Ricardo Nicol and gay activist Jeff Le Tourneau.

In the GOP battle in northwest Orange County’s 45th Congressional District, Rohrabacher weathered a tough primary fight with Buffa and Green.

The challengers battered the two-term incumbent over checks he bounced at the House bank, suggested he misused congressional mailing privileges and declared Rohrabacher a carpetbagger.

Buffa, in particular, was on the attack. In the final weekend, Buffa aired a radio spot featuring Michael Reagan, son of the former President.

Never one to back away from a good tussle, Rohrabacher asked the FBI and Federal Election Commission last week to investigate his suspicions of election fraud involving Buffa, charging that the candidate’s campaign manager illegally bankrolled the effort. Buffa scoffed at the claims, saying he simply still owes the campaign manager money.

Rohrabacher also got plenty of attention early on for his stance on illegal immigration, particularly after he suggested that undocumented aliens are bankrupting the nation by streaming across the border to tap a package of health and educational “goodies” available in the United States.

Elsewhere, Jay C. Kim was leading Charles W. Bader, James V. Lacy and three other Republican primary candidates in the newly created 41st Congressional District. Defense analyst Bob Baker ran unopposed on the Democratic side.

Cox demolished two underfunded opponents in the 47th Congressional District Republican primary, while Democrat John F. Anwiler ran unopposed.

Royce ran unopposed in the primary for the 39th Congressional District. Fullerton Councilwoman Molly McClanahan was running ahead in the Democratic primary.

In the 48th, Packard also appeared to be on the way to a comfortable victory over two challengers, while businessman Michael Farber was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Times staff writers Bob Elston, George Frank and Kristina Lindgren and correspondents Helaine Olen, Malaika Brown and Mary Anne Perez contributed to this story.