Democrats Plan ‘In Your Face’ Campaign : Election: Statewide voter-turnout effort to begin with major fund-raiser in O.C. Local GOP calls tactic ‘puffery.’

Adopting an “in your face” strategy against the Republican Party, the California Democratic Party announced Tuesday that it will kick off its statewide campaign for the November general election in Orange County--the heartbeat of Republican conservatism.

State Democratic Chairman Bill Press said during a news conference that the first post-June 7 primary fund-raiser featuring the statewide Democratic victors will take place at the South County ranch of former state party Chairman Richard O’Neill.

Half of the anticipated proceeds--about $50,000--will stay in Orange County for intensive voter registration and voter turnout drives leading up to the November election.

“It is an ‘in your face’ kind of a deal that we are bringing in our statewide team right here--with all due respect--into the belly of the beast as a sign that we are giving no quarter and ceding no territory in the state of California, nor taking any area for granted,” Press said.

Republican voter registration outnumbers Democratic voters in Orange County by 52% to 34%.

Coupled with the $20,000 in state party funds now being spent to register Democrats in the 68th and 69th Assembly districts in central Orange County, former local Democratic Chairman Howard Adler said the local party’s fund raising will be months ahead of where it usually is in an election year.

The June 18 fund-raiser--expected to draw Vice President Al Gore and other Clinton Administration officials--”gives us $40,000 to $50,000 in the bank within two weeks of the primary, and that’s the best head start we have ever had,” Adler said.

Orange County GOP Chairman Thomas Fuentes later dismissed the effort as “typical thumb-sucking puffery” employed by Democrats every two years in an attempt to draw interest to their party. After all is said and done, Fuentes added, the Democrats fail to meet their fund-raising goals or spend it all on the 69th Assembly district, the only legislative seat in the hands of Democrats.

“It is highly unlikely that this kind of effort, which they announced, will have any real or concentrated results,” Fuentes said.

Press said the coordinated statewide campaign is a different ballgame this year.

During the last gubernatorial campaign in 1990, Press said the party spent only $2 million, but this year, their budget is $6 million to $8 million.

“That’s Republican-size money,” O’Neill emphasized.

Conceding that they cannot become the dominant political party in Orange County in one election season, Democratic Party officials said they nonetheless expect to make significant gains in hopes of having an impact on the statewide races in November.

Orange County Republicans are usually counted on to provide large-enough margins for their statewide candidates to push them over the top. If Democrats can cut into those margins, then they feel they can strengthen their ticket.

The Democrats’ new focus on Orange County also reflects the importance the party is placing on the candidacy of state Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), who is vacating his seat to run for state attorney general in November against Republican incumbent Dan Lungren.

The early resources in the central county legislative districts “recognize the strength of Tom Umberg running statewide and how he can help us in this county. We are here not only to help the county, but because we are counting on the county to help us win statewide,” Press said.