ELECTIONS / 23RD STATE SENATE DISTRICT : Hayden Runs Hard Despite No Real Opposition : Politics: A write-in Republican who dropped out, then re-entered the race and two minor party candidates provide only token challenges.

After surviving a bitter, expensive and down-to-the-wire primary campaign, Assemblyman Tom Hayden is campaigning diligently, looking nervously over his shoulder as he heads down the homestretch in the race for the 23rd state Senate District seat.

Only this time around, there is no one remotely close behind. After defeating state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) by only 580 votes in the June 2 Democratic primary, Hayden is all but assured of victory.

The newly drawn 23rd District encompasses nearly all of the Westside and southern San Fernando Valley and is among the most liberal districts in the state--a perfect match for the former radical activist turned progressive.

Hayden’s main opposition comes from Republican challenger Leonard H. (Len) McRoskey, a businessman who has never held elective office and who had to wage a last-minute write-in campaign just to get on the ballot.

McRoskey suspended his campaign in September, saying the demographics made it impossible for him to win. But early this month he decided to re-enter the race, saying a groundswell of support from Republicans and disaffected Democrats had changed his mind.

Why is Hayden campaigning so hard?

“I take nothing for granted,” he said. “I don’t think voters like people who take things for granted.”

Hayden also said he anticipates a possible last-minute charge by McRoskey and the Republican Party, including an onslaught of negative campaign mailers. McRoskey declined to comment on his strategic plans.

But more important, Hayden said, after nearly 10 years in the Assembly, he is eager to get cracking on the many new initiatives he plans to introduce once he graduates to the Legislature’s upper house. And, he said, stumping is a way to refine his ideas and articulate them to the 750,000 potential constituents in the vast district, including a large number of voters he has never represented before.

As he works his way around the campaign trail, Hayden, 52, is smarting from a primary that ranked among the most expensive and rancorous state Senate races ever.

The five-term assemblyman spent more than $875,000 and Rosenthal spent more than $975,000. Both candidates waged vigorous direct-mail campaigns, in the process defeating the third candidate in the race, Catherine O’Neill.

Hayden won in a cliffhanger, successfully risking a less-than-safe Assembly seat for a chance to take his political agenda to a larger constituency. And even though he would be a freshman, Hayden says he expects to play an important role in what he calls the E issues: environment, education and economics.

As always, Hayden is railing against “the special interest state in Sacramento,” which he defines as the organized lobbying influences that he says control the legislative process at the expense of the public. He wants more emphasis on public financing of campaigns, to wean incumbents off their reliance on those special interests.

Hayden cites his primary campaign as illustrative of the need for reform. He notes that he was able to spend much of his own money on the race but that most other candidates cannot. “I’m an accident, or an exception,” he said, “because I have independent funds.”

On the environmental front, Hayden said he wants to continue his efforts to protect Santa Monica Bay and get involved in efforts to curb development in the Santa Monica Mountains. He also wants to promote use of electric cars, and often drives an electrically powered car while campaigning.

Hayden also wants to reform and decentralize public education, and supports a breakup of the Los Angeles Unified School District. And he wants to set up businesses to help rebuild riot-torn areas and provide jobs in Los Angeles.

McRoskey, “a healthy 73,” worked in the Reagan Administration as a deputy assistant secretary of the Navy. When he learned that no Republicans were seeking the nomination in the 23rd District, McRoskey mounted a successful write-in campaign in the June primary.

McRoskey said he is running as a family values-oriented civic leader who can take charge and help improve the state’s economy and quality of life. He wants to fight fiscal waste and irresponsibility in government and opposes the emphasis on special interests in the Legislature. Government, he said, should be more active providing affordable housing and better education, in combatting crime, drug abuse and illegal immigration.

“The most important thing I want to do is give the people a voice in Sacramento,” he said, “something they’ve been denied for so many years.”

Also running are Libertarian R. William Weilburg and Peace and Freedom candidate Shirley Rachel Isaacson.

Isaacson, 61, a school psychologist in the Los Angeles Unified School District, advocates free college education for all, national health insurance and an all-out assault on the homeless problem, which she calls “a sign of the deterioration of society and its moral fiber.” She calls for housing the homeless in vacant apartments and office buildings. She also supports a 90% cut in defense spending, and derides both major parties as defenders of the wealthy.

Even a candidate of Hayden’s liberal credentials “isn’t liberal enough,” she said, adding, “It’s important for people to have a real alternative.”

Weilburg, 26, brings to the race a promise to cut state spending in as many ways as possible--starting with his own Senate salary. If elected, he says he would give a third of his $52,500 salary back to the state or to a charity.

“I believe you lead by example,” said Weilburg, a file control manager for a claims adjustment company.

Weilburg said his main focus in Sacramento would be to initiate legislation to freeze hiring, spending and taxes. Then he would work toward privatization of some government services and the reduction of the governmental regulation he says is ruining the business climate in California.

“I’m not saying scrap the government in three years,” he said. “That’s not my goal. But we do need to find a way to do things less expensively in this state.”

Times staff writer Jeff Kramer contributed to this story.

Senate District 23 Where: Most of the Westside north of the Santa Monica Freeway, both sides of the Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica Mountains, much of western San Fernando Valley. Democrat: Tom Haden, assembly man Republican: Leonard H. (Len) McRoskey, businessman Libertarian: R. William Weilburg, businessman Peace and Freedom: Shirley Rachel Isaacson, school psychologist / unionist Demographics Anglo: 80% Latino: 10% Black: 3% Asian: 7% Party Registration Democrat: 54% Republican: 32%