Local Tensions Flare at First Lady’s Stop : Politics: Barbara Bush gets sampling of O.C. party’s divisiveness as Republican loyalists and GOP backers of Clinton confront each other.

First Lady Barbara Bush worked to energize Orange County Republicans on Friday, only to get a glimpse of how much more difficult this election year may be when compared to GOP landslides of the past.

Several hundred people turned out to see the First Lady open a Republican campaign headquarters in Irvine and speak glowingly about why her husband should be elected to a second term in the White House.

But the event was marred when a dozen protesters--identified as Republicans for Bill Clinton--were harassed, pushed and shouted down. The disturbance appeared to catch Bush’s attention only when the crowd cheered after a Clinton sign was snatched away from its carrier and ripped to pieces.

But in front of reporters who covered the event, hostility between the two sides degenerated into tense, red-faced confrontations. Reporters who sought interviews with the Clinton supporters were accused of slanted news coverage.

“It’s kind of hot and uncomfortable in the big tent today,” said Anita Mangels of Laguna Beach, a leader of the Orange County Republicans for Clinton organization. The “big tent” is a reference to the GOP’s policy of including groups with diverse opinions.

“The Republican Party is trying to shout out all of the dissenting voices,” she said.

Thomas Fuentes, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, said he was unaware of the scuffling from his seat on the dais. The chairman said the protesters were inconsequential, and he disparaged the Democratic nominee with a reference to allegations of infidelity lodged against Clinton early in the campaign.

“I know they were here to advocate a candidate whose wife can’t trust him, so how are we supposed to trust him?” Fuentes asked. “I don’t have time to worry about the few who go the wrong way. We have a job to do.”

Orange County has received national attention lately because of signs that the President’s campaign is struggling in California’s most loyal Republican territory.

Last week, a group of high-profile Republicans made a prominent break with the GOP to announce their support for Clinton. And earlier, the Orange County Register caught the nation’s attention when it called on Bush to withdraw from the campaign.

A Los Angeles Times poll earlier this week found Bush with a narrow seven-point lead over Clinton, 49% to 42%. The margin was far short of what campaign observers consider necessary to offset the state’s Democratic strongholds.

The poll also found that the Orange County Republican Party is losing the support of some moderate voters, a group that might be sympathetic to the popular First Lady.

During the Republican National Convention, Barbara Bush struck a harmonious chord with abortion rights supporters when she said the party’s contrary position should be left out of the GOP platform.

On Friday, Barbara Bush appeared on a radio talk show in Los Angeles and a fund-raiser in Irvine before attending the opening of a new campaign office on MacArthur Boulevard near John Wayne Airport. Republican campaign officials estimated the crowd at almost 1,000 people.

“People ask me if it is hard campaigning for the most . . . qualified, decent, caring, most experienced, and steadiest and, yes, healthiest man,” she joked. “ . . . Families, fairness, progress and jobs--that’s what George Bush is fighting for today.”