The Orange County Vote : LOCAL ELECTIONS / SUPERVISORS : Three Running Neck and Neck in 2nd District : Silva, Tillotson and Moulton Patterson fight for two spots in November runoff vote whose winner will succeed retiring Wieder.

Huntington Beach Mayor Linda Moulton Patterson and Councilman Jim Silva were running in a virtual dead heat with businesswoman Haydee V. Tillotson late Tuesday night as they battled for two places in a runoff for the northwest Orange County Board of Supervisors seat.

Incumbent Supervisor William G. Steiner and state Sen. Marian Bergeson romped to easy victories in supervisorial races in their North and South County districts respectively.

But in Huntington Beach, home of all three front-runners for the 2nd District post being vacated by retiring Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, early returns left the race too close to call.

By late Tuesday night, Silva was holding a slim lead over colleague Moulton Patterson, but Tillotson remained very much in contention, separated from the top by a narrow margin, according to results from a third of the precincts.

If the rankings hold, Moulton Patterson would position herself as the first Democrat with a shot at securing a seat on the Board of Supervisors in 15 years. But she would have to defeat Silva, a Republican, in a Nov. 8 runoff, which already is forecast to be a particularly bitter contest for the nonpartisan seat.

“It’s going to be a very negative campaign where (the Republicans) will attempt to tear down my record,” Moulton Patterson said Tuesday night, already looking forward to the fall campaign. “We’ve already seen this. I don’t know how many votes money can buy.”

Silva, who can expect an infusion of Republican funding for a runoff after being outspent in the primary, said he was hopeful of retaining a spot for the November showdown.

“You just hope you can hang on,” Silva said from a party at his home.

For Tillotson, a failure to make the runoff would prove to be an expensive early exit, as she has loaned her own campaign $342,000.

Tillotson paced nervously in her 16th-floor suite at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel as early returns showed her in third place in the tight three-way race.

“I still feel with the campaign we ran we should be victorious,” she said, adding that it was too soon to predict the outcome since the votes from her strongholds--Huntington Beach and Seal Beach--had not yet been tallied.

However, Tillotson conceded that she had expected to beat Moulton Patterson in the absentee balloting and was surprised by the mayor’s strong showing in the second spot behind Silva.

The three contenders emerged from a field of five candidates who also included Huntington Beach businessman John A. Thomas and former Garden Grove Councilman Raymond Thomas Littrell, both of whom trailed.

It was a different story in the other supervisor contests: Steiner declared an easy victory over Anaheim college Prof. Phillip L. Knypstra just minutes after the first absentee totals were reported. Bergeson, a three-term state senator from Newport Beach who ran unopposed, also wrapped up an early victory to succeed retiring Supervisor Thomas F. Riley in South County’s 5th District.

“I think it’s a vote of confidence for the job I’ve done, since I was appointed last year by Gov. Wilson,” Steiner said from a campaign party at the Orange County Mining Co. Restaurant in Orange. “It’s a lot better to be elected than appointed.”

Said Bergeson: “My (race) looks pretty good. I’ve been in both kinds of campaigns and this is more comfortable.”

With three open seats on the board, Tuesday’s election marks the beginning of a substantial change in membership and political style on the staunchly conservative five-member panel that governs California’s third-largest county.

Riley will retire in December after 20 years representing the sprawling South County district. And Wieder, the board’s first female member, whose pending retirement has created the vacancy in the 2nd District, will leave after more than 15 years.