COUNTYWIDE : Feinstein Calls for Big Voter Turnout

Withh just two days remaining on Sunday before the Nov. 3 general election, Democratic U. S. Senate candidate Dianne Feinstein stumped Ventura County for local candidates, urging crowds in Oxnard and Thousand Oaks to make an all-out effort to get out the vote.

“Wear your heart on your sleeve,” Feinstein told a gathering of about 150 people in an Oxnard industrial park. “Walk that walk and talk that talk.”

Feinstein, speaking from a wooden platform, hammered on the impact of the recession in California where, she said, 850,000 jobs have been lost in the past two years.

Feinstein expressed concern that a landslide victory by Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton would mean television networks calling the election about 5 p.m. California time, three hours before the polls close here. She urged the crowd to tell friends “not to believe what they hear,” and to vote no matter what.

Feinstein, who is running against Republican U. S. Sen. John Seymour, spoke on behalf of Democrats Anthony C. Beilenson, Anita Perez Ferguson, Roz McGrath, Jack O’Connell and Hank Starr.

Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) is being challenged by Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) in the 24th Congressional District; Perez Ferguson of Oxnard opposes Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) in the 23rd Congressional District; Starr of Bell Canyon is facing, Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) in the 19th State Senate District; McGrath of Camarillo is running against Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi, the Republican, in the 37th Assembly District, and O’Connell of Carpinteria opposes Republican Lanny Ebenstein of Santa Barbara in the 35th Assembly District.

Perez Ferguson said newly elected Democrats must work for “forgotten Americans” such as single parents struggling on welfare and the jobless.

Starr called upon the crowd in Oxnard and Thousand Oaks to join hands. “As long as the nation holds hands we cannot lose,” he said.

Feinstein, speaking in a bank parking lot in heavily Republican Thousand Oaks, stumped for Beilenson, who is in a tight race against McClintock.

For his part, Beilenson said Feinstein “has turned out to be the strong anchor on the California Democratic ticket this year.”

Besides the Feinstein appearances, the candidates received a boost from Ventura County’s Democratic Party, which organized a major effort for them over the weekend. About 80,000 “door hangers,” highlighting the party’s slate, were placed on household doorknobs by about 350 volunteers. Additionally, in a last-minute effort by Democratic organizers to help Perez Ferguson in her close race against Gallegly, flyers were mailed and telephone calls were made to so-called ticket-splitters, households that have split their major party votes in past elections.