ELECTIONS ’92 : Gallegly Leads in Tally for Congress : Election: Anthony Beilenson was ahead of Tom McClintock in the 24th District in early and inconclusive returns.

Conservative Republican Elton Gallegly appeared headed for victory over Democrat Anita Perez Ferguson in a race for Congress Tuesday despite a strong showing by Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in the traditional GOP stronghold of Ventura County.

But Democratic Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson of Los Angeles led Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) in early and inconclusive returns in their race in the 24th Congressional District, which includes Thousand Oaks and nearby Los Angeles County communities.

Ross Perot showed strength throughout Ventura County, where the Texas billionaire enjoyed some of his greatest popularity in California. Still, Perot trailed Clinton and Bush by sizable margins.

Ventura County voters were voting Republican in California’s U. S. Senate races. Democrat Dianne Feinstein trailed Republican incumbent John Seymour, and Republican Bruce Herschensohn held a narrow lead over Rep. Barbara Boxer (D-Greenbrae).

Ventura County Clerk Richard D. Dean projected the voter turnout at 77%, slightly higher than the last presidential election, but well under the record county turnout of 88.1% in 1964.

Gallegly was cautious about claiming a fourth term in the House, but he smelled victory as the early ballots were counted.

“I feel probably just about as good as any candidate could feel at this point,” he said. “This is a very special evening and I have a lot to be thankful for. If the numbers hold, this will be the sweetest victory of my political life.”

Perez Ferguson said she was not dismayed because a chunk of the early returns consisted of absentee ballots.

“We expected it to be one-sided,” she said. “The absentees are frequently the Republican vote. I think it’s going to be a really long night in terms of the numbers.”

Although Ventura County voters had not sent a Democrat to the House of Representatives for decades, the redrawn 23rd Congressional District appeared to offer a major opportunity for Perez Ferguson.

No longer could Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) rely on heavily Republican Thousand Oaks, which was moved into an adjacent congressional district. And the three-term incumbent had to stump in heavily Democratic Oxnard, where he was a new face.

A well-organized Democratic registration drive tipped the district--which includes Carpinteria and all of Ventura County except most of Thousand Oaks--into the Democratic column by about two points.

Gallegly, 48, the former mayor of Simi Valley, spent about $600,000 on his reelection effort. Perez Ferguson, 43, an educational consultant, spent about $500,000 in her campaign, which was marked by a series of sharp attacks that focused on Gallegly’s alleged abuse of congressional perks.

The Gallegly camp called the ad campaign “gutter politics.” During exit interviews in Simi Valley, at least one voter who had been leaning toward the Democrat cited the ads as a reason for voting for Gallegly.

“Her negative campaign cost her my vote,” said Tim Jolly, 34.

A vice president of the National Women’s Political Caucus, Perez Ferguson was heavily supported by women’s groups and labor unions in her bid to become the second Latina elected to the House of Representatives.

A striking difference between the two candidates was apparent on the issue of abortion rights. Gallegly opposes abortion except when the life of a woman is threatened or in cases of rape or incest. Perez Ferguson fully supports abortion rights.

Andrea Augustson, a 21-year-old waitress and a registered Democrat, said outside the polls in Simi Valley that she voted for Perez Ferguson because of her position on abortion.

“She’s pro-choice,” Augustson said.

But Karen Ratliff, a 34-year-old homemaker and the mother of three, said she voted for Gallegly precisely because of his antiabortion position. Ratliff said she is a registered Democrat, but voted a straight Republican ticket.

“People are looking more at the issues and how each individual stands,” she said.

Gallegly ignited a firestorm of protest among Latinos during the campaign by urging tougher laws to prevent illegal immigration into the United States. “I make no apologies for putting Americans first,” he said.

Just as Perez Ferguson’s campaign flyers turned off some voters, others viewed Gallegly’s campaign mailers as political overkill.

“Gallegly has turned me off by stuffing our mailbox with mailers,” said Laura Gulofsen, 60, a retired kindergarten teacher in Ventura who voted for Perez Ferguson. “I don’t like the way he has gone after the illegals as hard as he has and making them the scapegoat for all of our problems.”

In the adjacent 24th Congressional District, which runs from Thousand Oaks to the west San Fernando Valley and into Malibu, Beilenson, 60, and McClintock, 36, focused their campaigns on their divergent political ideologies.

On the stump, McClintock attacked the nine-term congressman as a tax-and-spender, telling audiences that Beilenson “never met a tax he didn’t like.”

Beilenson repeatedly pointed to McClintock’s conservative views and his reliance on political action committee money to underwrite his campaign. MORE RESULTS: How Ventura County voted in statewide and national contests. A14

LOCAL TALLIES: B4