Local Limbaugh Fan Club Leader Ensures Rush Is On : Conservatism: With her seven radios, Ruth Calvert, founder of the 79-member chapter, never misses the show.

Ruth Calvert has seven radios strategically placed throughout her Orange home. And every weekday morning, it is not unusual for all of them to be broadcasting the same station.

That way, Calvert explains, she is never out of earshot of one of America’s more prominent voices--Rush Limbaugh.

“The hard thing is remembering to turn them all off,” said Calvert, who is president of the only California chapter of the National Rush Limbaugh Fan Club.

Since founding the Orange County chapter in October, Calvert has seen membership jump from 21 to 79. The ranks of the Orange-based club boast an impressive list of local conservative politicians, including state legislators John R. Lewis and Gil Ferguson, and Orange City Council members Joanne Coontz, Mike Spurgeon and Mark Murphy.

“We are coming together because of a lot of frustrations over the direction the country is headed,” Calvert said. “We are saying our country is going to be OK, and also we are keeping a sense of humor, which is the greatest thing Rush has given us.”

In recognition of Calvert’s organizing pluck, the year-old national fan club, which has 15 chapters with 1,200 members across the country, recently named her its “Woman of the Year.”

“She’s a sweetheart of a lady,” said national club President Ken O’Rourke, 71, a retired minister in El Jobean, Fla. “Not only does she head up a chapter, but she got more members in her first month than I did in three.”

“God bless Orange County,” he added.

“Rush Rooms,” places in restaurants and taverns where fans informally gather to listen to the best-selling author and media personality, have flourished for years. But the fan club takes allegiance to the rotund wise guy--who opines that America has been “held hostage” since President Bill Clinton took office--a step further.

For a one-time fee of $10, supporters receive wallet-sized membership cards, a certificate and a subscription to national and local Rush Limbaugh newsletters.

“Yes, I’m proud to be a card-carrying member,” said Lewis (R-Orange), who is a charter member of the Orange County chapter, and a longtime Rush Limbaugh fan.

The club’s monthly Saturday morning meetings typically consist of an hourlong presentation by a featured speaker, sandwiched between two hours of Limbaugh TV highlights. The local chapter hopes its programs will advance the conservative agenda and promote the American ideals of family values and free enterprise, club members say.

But, they hasten to add, the club’s ultimate purpose is to help citizens make up their own minds, free from the influence of the “liberal” media and even Limbaugh himself.

“A lot of people have interpreted that we are just a bunch of blockheads who can’t think for ourselves, and that Rush is leading us around by the nose,” Calvert said. “That’s just not true.”

To aid members in understanding how the other end of the political spectrum thinks, Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) will address the club about liberal views on wealth at its next meeting on Saturday at the Rib Trader Restaurant in Orange.

Ferguson, a friend and fellow conservative of Limbaugh’s for the past decade, said he’s glad Orange County is demonstrating its support for the outspoken personality.

“I think people gravitate toward Rush because he expresses exactly what they are feeling,” said Ferguson, one of the few politicians Limbaugh has ever publicly endorsed. “I think these clubs will spring up all over.”

While the club may be politically informative, members say the meetings also provide a good opportunity for fellowship.

“I’m not really the fan club type,” said Don Phillips, 64, a salesman from Orange. “But this is a chance to have a stimulating chat over a cup of coffee on Saturday mornings. It’s a good thing.”

Had it not been for a chance conversation Calvert had at church about a year ago, the club might never have been organized. During choir practice, Calvert overheard someone talking about a conservative author who labeled some women’s rights activists “femi-Nazis.” She immediately purchased Limbaugh’s best-selling book, “The Way Things Ought To Be.”

“I just died laughing,” Calvert said. “I usually don’t have time to read, but I couldn’t put it down.”

Calvert said she then tuned into Limbaugh’s radio broadcasts, but initially found bothersome his playful declaration of his talent being “on loan from God.”

“I’m not saying I’m 120% Christian, but that ruffled my feathers,” she said. “I thought about that a while and that’s the doggone truth. We all have talent on loan from God and isn’t it wonderful that God gave him the talent of a sense of humor?”

But like millions of other devoted listeners, Calvert was eventually won over by Limbaugh’s blend of politics and humor.

Calvert said she is not worried that the adulation emanating from a national fan club will swell the conservative icon’s ego. Limbaugh’s bluster is merely an on-air affectation, she maintains.

“I know that’s his image,” Calvert said. “But he’s down to earth, he’s really nice to everyone.”

“He’s as humble as humble pie,” she added.