ELECTIONS / 23RD STATE SENATE : Rosenthal Pins Hopes on Uncounted, Absentee Votes

Veteran state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal on Thursday said he was “guardedly optimistic” that absentee and other uncounted votes would propel him ahead of Assemblyman Tom Hayden, his rival Democrat in a tight election battle in a district that straddles the Santa Monica Mountains.

After Tuesday’s balloting in the Democratic primary, Hayden was ahead with 44,803 votes or 36.80%, compared to 44,526 or 36.58% for Rosenthal. Pacific Palisades public relations consultant Catherine O’Neill was a distant third in the strongly Democratic 23rd state Senate District.

Rosenthal voiced his opinions Thursday as the registrar-recorder’s office began to tally an estimated 100,000 uncounted ballots from districts throughout the county.

It was unclear exactly how many of the uncounted ballots were cast in the 23rd District, which stretches from West Hollywood to Westlake Village. Estimates from campaign officials ran between 3,000 and 10,000.

But Grace Romero, a spokeswoman for the registrar-recorder, said it would not be possible to determine exactly how many of these were cast in the district. She described three categories of votes being counted: absentee ballots that arrived at the last minute on Tuesday, ballots containing write-in votes and those that were disputed for one reason or another at the polling place.

She said a substantial number of ballots will have been counted by Monday, when the next batch of results is scheduled to be made public. Duane Peterson, Hayden’s campaign manager, said he understood that 75% of the ballots would be tallied by the time of Monday’s announcement.

With Hayden leading by only 277 votes, Rosenthal on Thursday continued taking campaign-style swipes at the Santa Monica assemblyman.

Rosenthal blasted Hayden for “unethical” smears that linked Rosenthal to former state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys). Robbins resigned from office last year after pleading guilty to federal political corruption charges.

One storybook-style mailer was titled “Robbins & Rosenthal, The Unfolding Story.” Hayden used it in an attempt to tie Rosenthal to special-interest legislation that figured in the charges against Robbins.

But in an interview, Rosenthal maintained: “Putting me together with Robbins was absolutely reprehensible. In fact, Robbins and I were not friendly at all.”

After the election, Hayden headed for Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations-sponsored Earth Summit. Before he left, Hayden said that of all of his campaigns he was most proud of the state Senate race because it dealt with the “corrupt and deadlocked nature of Sacramento and what to do about it.”

He was particularly incensed at a last-minute Rosenthal mailer that likened him to George Bush and Richard Nixon. “Only Hersch had the chutzpah to compare me to George Bush, and then it became Bush and Richard Nixon,” Hayden said.

Peterson also defended the Hayden campaign pieces, saying that it was absurd for Rosenthal to be whining about the mailers.

Rosenthal, who spent much of the campaign in the capital, also voiced satisfaction with the way his election drive was conducted. In reference to campaign strategist Michael Berman, Rosenthal said he “depended on the expertise of those who were preparing the material.”

Back in the Capitol, Rosenthal was greeted with handshakes and hugs from his colleagues quizzing him for information about the tight contest. Asked if he was nervous, Rosenthal said, “I think I will pull it out.”

Times staff writer Jeffrey L. Rabin in Los Angeles contributed to this story.