CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / U.S. SENATE : Boxer Woos Democrats in Leisure World : Senate candidate promises to spearhead fight for women’s and seniors’ rights.

Promising that she will spearhead the fight for women’s and seniors’ rights, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Boxer told raucous members of the Leisure World Democratic Club on Tuesday that she needs their help to win what is being portrayed nationally as a “historic” Senate race.

Boxer, a five-term congresswoman from Marin County, made a swing through traditionally Republican Orange County on the second day of her 15-day campaign tour across the state. Tuesday, more than 400 residents of the retirement community came to an auditorium in Leisure World to hear the Democratic candidate, and most--if not all--liked what they heard.

But she made a point of telling her elderly listeners that she had not come to Leisure World to talk only about senior citizen issues. “A lot of politicians do that. You’re interested in everything, aren’t you?”

In a speech that covered the spectrum of the Democratic Party’s platform, Boxer said she supports women’s rights in the volatile abortion issue, the rights of Social Security recipients to be protected from unfair cuts in their benefits, environmental protection programs, cuts in military spending and additional funding for education.

Concerning “Roe v. Wade, I want to make it the law of the land by passing the Freedom of Choice Act,” Boxer said.

Her promise to “respect anyone’s personal rights and beliefs” drew applause from the lively crowd, which at times chanted “Barbara! Barbara!”

The candidate, clinching her hand into a fist and swinging her arm in the air, also took some figurative jabs at the Republican Party and her opponent in the November election, Los Angeles television commentator Bruce Herschensohn.

Referring to a Republican campaign theme from a past presidential election, Boxer said that “morning in America” belonged only to “Ronald Reagan and his friends, and it has been a very long morning.” In his 1984 reelection campaign, Reagan relied heavily on a television ad telling viewers that the United States was poised at the dawn of an era of unprecedented prosperity.

Boxer also assailed Herschensohn for his stance on what he calls “socialist security.” She accused him of not supporting a decent living standard for seniors.

Herschensohn also campaigned in Leisure World last week, promising to support Social Security benefits for older Americans. He had told his listeners, members of the community’s Republican Club, that he opposes any attempt to reduce the payments because of an individual’s wealth.

Tuesday, Boxer dismissed Herschensohn’s words as mere empty promises.

While most of her speech focused on the basic differences between stands taken by the two parties on various issues, Boxer saved her most enthusiastic words for the end of her speech, when she appealed to the community to “help make history” by voting for herself and Dianne Feinstein, California’s other Democratic candidate who is running against appointed Sen. John Seymour.

“In California, we have a historic opportunity--historic--to double the number of women in the U.S. Senate in one day,” she said, her words almost drowned out by loud cheers. “And I love the fact that the men are applauding as I said that.”

A statewide Field Poll released July 30 showed Boxer leading Herschensohn 49% to 31%. Twenty percent were undecided.