Parties Confront County’s Politics of Upheaval : Elections: A GOP fortress is shattered by an electoral bomb, leaving dazed Republicans figuring out how to regain their primacy as giddy Democrats seek ways to exploit their newfound clout.

In some ways, now that Election Day is over, the work for Orange County Republicans and Democrats is just beginning.

Both sides are recovering from their first competitive showdown in more than a decade after Democrat Bill Clinton’s campaign turned Orange County into a national priority and forced President Bush’s tally in California’s Republican stronghold to a historic low.

But the competition ignited by the presidential race did not end Tuesday. Republicans are now facing the question of how to regain their dynasty. And Democrats sense an opportunity that will require a major effort on their part to exploit.

“Orange County politics has been opened up,” said Roger W. Johnson, chairman of Western Digital Corp. in Irvine and a Republican who supported Clinton. “It will never be the same again.”

Republicans have the most at stake, since Orange County has been the GOP’s breadbasket in California and has played a decisive role in several close elections for statewide candidates.

And the question facing Republican leaders as they look to future elections is a fundamental one: What does the Orange County Republican Party represent?

Conservatives, led by several of the county’s elected officials and its central committee leadership, said the lesson in Tuesday’s election results is that the party has strayed from the galvanizing principles that led Ronald Reagan to victory.

They note that Bush and U.S. Sen. John Seymour--both considered moderate Republicans on Tuesday’s ballot--did poorly in Orange County while conservative champion Bruce Herschensohn narrowly lost statewide to Sen.-elect Barbara Boxer. Also, Orange County’s delegation to Sacramento and Washington is almost universally conservative--and it was comfortably reelected.

“Our candidates stayed the course, they carried the conservative banner, and they won,” said Thomas Fuentes, chairman of the county GOP.

But Orange County gained national attention during the 1992 campaign largely because of indications that its Republican base had splintered with a moderate faction breaking off toward Clinton. That split was personified by a group of Republicans--including prominent county leaders such as Western Digital’s Johnson--who were dubbed the OC-8 and who campaigned throughout the country for Clinton.

According to leaders of the GOP’s moderate wing, Tuesday’s loss by President Bush was largely caused by the GOP’s move toward right-wing extremism. Instead of focusing on the economy, they complain that the President’s campaign chose to highlight divisive conservative issues such as family values and abortion.

Historically, GOP consultant Robert Nelson said, the Republican Party has distinguished itself in elections by standing for laissez-faire economics, low taxes, law and order, a strong defense and family values. Except for family values, Nelson said, the party’s major issues were diluted or circumvented this year by either the Democrats’ moderate approach, Bush’s actions during his first term or world events.

“If the only instrument you have left in the orchestra is a tuba, you play the tuba,” said Nelson, one of the OC-8. “The problem is (family values) is far too narrow of an issue to develop a national political base from . . . and secondly, it is patently offensive to the people like myself who believe religion and morality (are) best left to churches, synagogues and mosques and not a role for the police power of the government.”

Some leaders in the county Republican Party suggest that a dialogue should be started in hopes of unifying the party’s elements before the next election. But with wounds still fresh from the election, others are pointing fingers and appear to be headed in opposite directions.

“We (conservatives) will be the springboard for the Republican comeback, and it’s vital that we don’t be demoralized by some moderate nincompoop who handed the party over to the Democrats--and I’m talking about George Bush,” Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R--Huntington Beach) said Thursday.

“Moderate, country club Republicanism was rejected by the voters,” he added. “We hope the moderates stay on board and stay part of the team, but it’s the last time we’re going to let them steer the ship.”

At the same time, some of the county’s moderate GOP leaders said they believe one solution to the party’s problems is to oust the conservative incumbents.

Developer Kathryn G. Thompson, a top Bush supporter in 1988 who broke ranks for Clinton this year, suggested that she would support moderate Republicans trying to unseat Orange County’s conservative incumbents in 1994. And Nelson zeroed in on Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

“Dornan is an embarrassment to the United States,” Nelson said. “I will personally donate the maximum allowable to any candidate who challenges Bob Dornan. I will first try that in the Republican primary and, failing that, I will do what I can in the general election.”

One of those trying to bring the two sides together is a longtime champion of conservative causes, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach).

Looking to 1994, when Gov. Pete Wilson will be up for reelection and U.S. Sen.-elect Dianne Feinstein will be on the ballot, Ferguson said the GOP is risking the chance of losing every major office in California if it does not reconcile its internal differences soon.

“I hope to set up a meeting between our Republican elected officials and some of our stronger contributors . . . because Orange County is the acorn of the Republican Party in California and it is going to depend a lot on how we shape it,” Ferguson said.

He added that the meeting should include a discussion on resolving the party’s split on abortion.

“We’ve got to either live with it or become two parties, because we can’t have people in our party sniping at us as if we’re the enemy,” he said.

County GOP Chairman Fuentes, who has not decided whether to seek reelection to his leadership post when his term ends in January, said he is open to any discussion of issues. However, he suggested that there is already a monthly meeting of the GOP central committee that could serve as a forum. And, he added, he does not believe there is a serious split in the party.

“What some would like to portray as a difference between the elements in the party in a context of moderate versus conservative, I don’t see that as a great problem because we have some spectacular leaders . . . on both sides,” he said.

In the Orange County Democratic Party, there is almost no way to go except up.

In the past, the Orange County Democrat has been more of an oxymoron than a political power. But Tuesday’s election energized party officials because they believe there was a fundamental shift in the electorate that was signaled by Republicans who voted against President Bush.

“Until this election, we were a joke, and I’ll be the first to admit it,” said Howard Adler, chairman of the county Democrats. “Democrats in this county are no longer a joke--we have momentum. We have a big job, but we have the momentum. I can’t tell you how exciting this is for me to be at the beginning of what I see to be a new day in Orange County.”

While Democrats are glowing with enthusiasm after Tuesday’s successes, their task at cracking into Orange County is formidable. Except for Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), Democrats have lost more than 40 races for county, state and federal office in the last six years. They also trail Republicans by a significant margin in most political districts as well as suffering an 18-point deficit among registered voters countywide.

Still, Adler and other Democratic leaders promised to take another step in 1994 by targeting at least two Republican incumbents they believe to be vulnerable: Dornan and Assemblyman-elect Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove).

Dornan’s district has a majority of Democratic voters and, in Pringle’s, the Republican advantage is not as overwhelming as in other parts of the county.

“I am really upbeat about going after Pringle and Dornan--those are clear seats we can take back,” said Chris Townsend, a political strategist with the Clinton campaign in Orange County. “It’s two things: The Democrats have come back to the mainstream and the Republicans have moved out to the extreme right wing.”

In Tuesday’s election, Clinton did not score much higher than the Democrats’ 1988 nominee, Michael S. Dukakis. And his level of support did not exceed the party’s 35% registration among Orange County’s voters.

But Bush’s score in Orange County was about 10 points below the level of Republican registration in the county, apparently because a large chunk of GOP voters defected to independent candidate Ross Perot.

County Democratic leaders believe those wayward Republicans might be persuaded to support a Democrat, especially if Clinton does not raise taxes on the middle class and is credited with improving the economy.

“The (Orange County) Democratic Party right now is just sort of getting its feet on the ground after the days when it was holding its meetings on street corners,” Umberg said. “The election means that voters in Orange County are demonstrating that they have an open mind and that there is an opportunity for progressive Democrats to take advantage of that.”