A Three-for-All : Politics: Democratic candidates band together and call for change--and abortion rights--in rallies in Camarillo and at the fair.

Year-of-the-woman politics took center stage in Ventura County on Tuesday as three female Democratic candidates stumped for historic changes in the state Legislature and Congress.

Barbara Boxer, Anita Perez Ferguson and Roz McGrath, teaming up at a noon rally in Camarillo and later at the Ventura County Fair, said the time had arrived for a gender revolution.

“We are going to give Washington the kind of change it really needs--a sex change,” McGrath, a state Assembly candidate told about 200 people, mostly women, outside a Camarillo office complex.

“I don’t want a government that can’t even balance its budget to have anything to do with my reproductive rights,” she said. McGrath, 45, is a Camarillo school teacher and a first-time candidate in the 37th Assembly District.

“The women’s movement has caught up with us finally. We had been left out,” McGrath said later. “This country is over 200 years old and we still have a piddling percentage of women in government.”

The upbeat rally of predominantly cheering, sign-toting women was held next to the office complex owned by businesswoman Daphne Becker, a Republican who lost a June primary contest for a seat representing Ventura County in the House of Representatives. Becker has since donated campaign office space to Democrats McGrath, congressional candidate Perez Ferguson and U.S. Senate candidate Boxer.

Republican stalwarts, such as Becker, crossing over to support their female counterparts in the Democratic Party, have aroused concern this year among Republican strategists in California. Much of the motivation to suddenly vote for Democrats lies with the abortion issue.

Becker, an abortion-rights advocate, strongly objected to the Republican platform opposing abortion. Democrats Perez Ferguson, McGrath and Boxer also support abortion rights.

In more than a dozen interviews at the rally, participants said it was important to elect such women to public office in November because they are more sensitive to the abortion issue and related issues.

Vicki Badik, 43, of Newbury Park describes herself as a staunch Republican for two decades. But she had a change of heart during last fall’s clash between Anita Hill and now-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

In November, she said, she will vote for Democratic women. “The Republican Party terrifies me,” she added.

Others in the crowd sounded similar themes--that female candidates were the wave of the political future.

“I’m not voting for women just because they’re women,” said Faith Gleicher, a 26-year-old teacher who lives in Camarillo. “It’s their positions, not their gender.”

Nadine Griffey, 43, a Camarillo teacher, considers abortion rights the big issue of the year. “We want to be in control of our own lives and bodies,” she said.

Don Cannon, 45, of Ventura, said, “Women make great candidates. They are more aware of the problems of family and children.”

Perez Ferguson, McGrath and Boxer were introduced on the speaker’s platform by Jamie Cox-Nowland, president of the Ventura-Oxnard chapter of the National Organization for Women, and actress and political activist Mary Steenburgen.

Perez Ferguson called this year’s election an emergency in the face of a faltering economy. “Workers are worrying not about the Red threat, but the pink slip here in Ventura County,” she said.

Each of the three female Democratic candidates is running against a male Republican conservative.

McGrath is competing against Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi in the race for an Assembly seat representing Camarillo, Moorpark, Oxnard, Port Hueneme and most of Thousand Oaks.

Boxer, 51, a five-term congresswoman from Marin County, is running for a U.S. Senate seat against Republican Bruce Herschensohn, a Los Angeles television commentator.

Perez Ferguson, 43, of Oxnard, is making her second bid for a House seat representing the new 23rd Congressional District, which includes Carpinteria and all of Ventura County except most of Thousand Oaks. Her opponent is three-term incumbent Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley).

Unlike recent national elections, when the Democrats have appeared fractured and disorganized in California, this time they are pooling staff and financial resources.

“Boxer coordinators are helping us raise money,” said Sam Rodriguez, who is managing Perez Ferguson’s campaign. “This is different from previous years.”

Moreover, he said, female candidates for public office in California will be hammering on the same issues in their mailers to voters--such as abortion rights--and will be exchanging critical voter trend information.

This important change in strategy is not lost on Republicans, who are also attempting to coordinate their election blueprints.

Even as the Democratic candidates were preparing for the rally, Republican campaign strategists representing several California races held a morning brainstorming session at a nearby Camarillo hotel.

The group heard a state Republican volunteer coordinator, Layne Allred, tell them he senses a “fear factor” among his fellow Republicans. He explained later to a reporter that the apprehension is generated by deep-rooted economic problems and the lack of “the Reaganesque mystique” at the top of the GOP ticket.

Still, he told the strategists, fear can be turned into a positive if it motivates Republicans to work harder for their candidates. “We use fear,” he said. “Fear is good if it helps us to solidify” the party.

Tuesday afternoon, Perez Ferguson, McGrath and Boxer strolled in tandem through the crowded Ventura County fairgrounds. They bantered with children who can’t vote and discussed issues with the children’s parents.

Joining the three at the fair was Ventura Mayor Greg Carson, who said he is considering voting for Boxer and Perez Ferguson even though he is a registered Republican. “It’s the year for change,” he said.

Working the crowd, the women ran into another Republican who vowed to support these Democratic candidates. John Richardson, 58, of Ventura, said he has voted Republican for 40 years, but pledged to support these candidates. “The gender issue is very positive and important to me.”