Metzler Enters Assembly Race as Party Favorite : Democrats: The Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce president is endorsed by former state and county chairmen in the race for Umberg’s 69th District seat.

With two local Democratic Party standard-bearers at his side, Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce President Michael Metzler on Wednesday took on the air of the “anointed” candidate for the Democratic primary in the 69th Assembly District as he kicked off his campaign.

Although Metzler does not have the official backing of his party, the endorsements from former Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Howard Adler and former state party Chairman Richard O’Neill raise his status as the party’s preference to replace Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove).

Umberg, who is stepping down to run for state attorney general, was among those who encouraged Metzler to enter the race.

During a news conference at the County Hall of Administration, Adler said Metzler is the best candidate to “follow through with the tradition that Tom Umberg has already established . . . good on business issues, good on crime issues.”

The other Democrats in the race are Latino political activist Zeke Hernandez, Santa Ana Councilman Ted R. Moreno and John Patterson, a contractor who ran unsuccessfully two years ago for a council seat in Santa Ana.

That O’Neill and Adler would want to replicate Umberg’s style and moderate politics is not unexpected, since Umberg’s departure threatens the loss of the only legislative seat in Orange County now held by Democrats.

“The 69th (Assembly District) has to be held as our base here,” Adler said.

Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district by a margin of 53% to 36%, but the GOP is expected to target the district in an attempt to sweep Orange County’s state and federal legislative districts.

Earlier Wednesday, National Republican Party Chairman Haley Barbour urged local party activists to go after Umberg’s seat.

In a later interview, Barbour said state and national party officials were in the process of deciding which California races would receive national funding. Although he did not know if the 69th Assembly race would be targeted by state party officials, he said the seat should be pursued by Republicans.

“We don’t try to delegate from Washington what Republicans in California should focus on,” Barbour said. “But I think this is a super opportunity for us to pick up another seat in the Assembly.”

Adler, O’Neill and Metzler emphasized the importance of the seat to the Democratic Party, but downplayed the Republican threats.

“They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars the last time with (Republican candidate) Jo Ellen Allen, and the result was that Tom (Umberg) got 60% of the vote,” Adler said of the 1992 race.

“They seem to be fielding a weaker and weaker field of candidates,” O’Neill added. “I don’t know of anybody in this (Republican field) who looks strong.”

Metzler, who emphasized his work in Santa Ana with the Chamber of Commerce on issues such as education and jobs creation, said he was ready for a tough fight. “I would not have chosen to do this if I was not in it for the total campaign,” he said.

The five Republicans who have declared their candidacies are Martin Ageson, an attorney from Santa Ana; Rosemarie I. Avila, a Santa Ana school board member; businesswoman Judy Buffin-Edge; party activist and businessman Jim Morrissey, and businessman Virgel L. Nickell.

The race in the 69th apparently has slightly superseded what was once the Democrats’ top priority: to defeat Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

Adler said that although the 69th Assembly race is the Democrats’ “targeted race,” they have not given up hopes of ousting Dornan from the 46th Congressional District in central Orange County, in which Democrats have a slight edge in voter registration over Republicans.

Although Dornan has not officially announced his intention to seek reelection, Adler pointed to a recent fund-raising letter by Dornan in which he states his preparation for his “final race for Congress.”

Dornan had been considering running for other offices or taking a leave from politics to enter broadcasting.

A Dornan aide would not disclose Dornan’s decision, but he said an announcement is scheduled for Friday.