Local Democrats Pin New Hope on Clinton Coattails : Politics: Candidates think top of the ticket may break GOP lock on Republican stronghold.

A group of Democratic candidates for state and federal offices in Orange County said Friday they hope to break the GOP lock on local elections this year by riding the coattails of their party’s surging presidential ticket.

Democrats represent only one of the 17 seats in the delegations to Sacramento and Washington from California’s strongest Republican territory. And they have been far behind the local GOP in raising money or getting votes when it comes to election campaigns.

But the old rules don’t apply this year, four of the 1992 Orange County Democratic candidates said at a press conference. With the local economy suffering and polls showing Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore outdistancing President Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle, the local candidates said they expect Republican voters will break with their party.

“Where you have the (registration) numbers we have, people don’t take (Democrats) very seriously,” said Sam Eidt, who is challenging state Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange). “But this is a different year. People are saying, ‘I may be Republican, but what have they done for me lately?’ ”

Eidt was joined at the press conference by Robert John Banuelos, the opponent of Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove); John F. Anwiler, who is trying to unseat Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), and Patricia McCabe, who is running against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach).

Some of the Republican incumbents responded Friday by saying that Democrats control both the Congress and the state Legislature and, therefore, a vote for change would be in favor of greater GOP control.

“We think the voters are very much disenchanted in all of the polls, but we think that means there will be a decent chance they will rebel against the Democrat-controlled Congress and the Democrat-controlled Legislature,” said Chris Jones, chief of staff for Sen. Lewis.

Cox added that he expects Orange County Republicans will remain loyal to the party--despite the polls--because their political philosophy is so different from that of the Democrats.

“I’d be very surprised if we had an overnight conversion of those who until very recently believed in economic growth through lower taxes and less government to the school of bigger government, more regulation and higher spending,” he said.

But in addition to the Democratic candidates, the GOP incumbents were also targeted Friday by a group of former supporters of Ross Perot’s abandoned presidential bid. A spokesman for the committee that collected more than 190,000 signatures in Orange County for the Texas billionaire said at the press conference that the group has transformed itself into an anti-incumbents movement that will seek the removal of all local lawmakers.

“We are not endorsing any of these (Democrat) candidates,” said Tex Watson, a former Perot supporter. “But we are going after all of the incumbents and that means they may benefit.”

Anwiler said the Perot campaign was largely responsible for the new hopes for Democratic chances in Orange County. “The Perot campaign stopped people from voting along their party lines,” he said. “We have to thank, very honestly, the Perot people.”

Orange County has recently received national attention for its illustration of the slipping support for President Bush.

Two local polls in the last month have found Clinton actually leading the President in Orange County, a crucial area for any statewide Republican candidate. California’s two Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate are also close to their Republican counterparts in polls of Orange County voters.

And the Orange County Register sounded alarms in the Republican camp Sunday when its editorial page called for President Bush to step down from the campaign.

But the question raised by the Democratic candidates Friday is: How long are Clinton’s coattails?

The Republican incumbents are likely to have a few hundred thousand dollars in campaign funds, far more than the Democrats are raising even as they claim things have changed in their favor. But the Democrat candidates and party officials said the GOP advantage in campaign money will be offset by the groundswell of anger about the economy and the government’s poor performance.

“We won’t have the money that the Republicans have in this county,” said Howard Adler, chairman of the county Democratic Party. “But these folks are going to have more resources than any Democratic candidates in the last 10 years.”