GOP Convention Turns Into Love Fest : Politics: Conservative Republicans voice no fault with candidates Wilson and Huffington. Earlier acrimony is swept aside.

For many Orange County Republicans attending the state GOP convention this weekend, Pete Wilson never looked so good.

As he mounted the stage Saturday to the cheers of “four more years!” there were no public signs that Orange County conservatives were anything but satisfied with their governor’s reelection campaign.

Gone from this gathering were the acrimonious debates of recent meetings that pitted the conservatives against the “Wilson moderates”--and earlier this year, against the U.S. Senate campaign of Michael Huffington, the millionaire Republican congressman from Santa Barbara.

“We have been silenced” for the sake of party unity, one local conservative privately conceded.

So they gathered for what became a giant unity rally, kept their objections to themselves, and even allowed their usual frowns for Wilson and Huffington to turn into smiles, for one very big reason: they sense a GOP victory on Nov. 8.

After turning their backs on President George Bush two years ago because of ideological differences, Orange County Republicans have learned they do not like to lose, even if it means giving in to the moderates in the party.

State Sen. Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove) said that when it comes to party unity, “we conservatives do more than our fair share.”

In the corridors of the convention hotel, the T-shirts and campaign buttons and GOP flyers offered signs that the enemies of all Republicans this fall are not Wilson and Huffington, but President Clinton, and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“Out of the ashes of the 1992 presidential defeat, we learned that we had to look at each other in a new dimension,” said the Rev. Lou Sheldon, an Orange County conservative. “People like Mike Huffington, when compared with (U.S. Sen.) Dianne Feinstein, definitely is our choice. We have learned not to look for the perfect candidate, but for the candidate that’s the best.”

So optimistic are Orange County Republicans about the election that, for the first time, Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) feels he can honestly recommend to party members that they vote for every single GOP nominee on the ballot.

“If you want a change, pull a straight Republican ticket, even if you have to hold your nose,” Conroy said, conceding he has not always followed his own advice, but will this year.

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) said that, to his surprise, he has seen conservative Orange County women who sat out in 1992 return as volunteers for the statewide campaigns.

“Even though the governor is not their man, so to speak, they have conditioned themselves over two years now to work for him,” Ferguson added.

State GOP Chairman Tirso del Junco predicted Wilson will carry Orange County by more than the 2-to-1 margin needed to offset Democratic strongholds in other parts of the state, and defeat Democrat Kathleen Brown by “six or seven points.”

A Los Angeles Times poll released last week showed that among likely voters statewide, Wilson had a 9-point lead over Brown--50% to 41%.

But a UC Irvine poll released two weeks ago concluded that while the governor had a 22-point lead over Brown among likely Orange County voters, he did not yet have enough local support to guarantee a statewide victory.

That point was not lost on Brown, who campaigned in Orange County on Saturday.

“The polls show that Pete Wilson is in deep trouble in his own base and these troubles are not going to go away,” Brown said. “They are going to get worse.”

Orange County’s early disaffection with Wilson showed in the June primary when 43% of local Republicans voted for Wilson’s opponent, computer businessman and political neophyte Ron Unz.

“He has repaired his standing strongly,” Del Junco said of Wilson. “If you would survey people today, you would see they have forgotten who Ron Unz was.”

Del Junco said the biggest problem facing the GOP now is not party disunity, but voter apathy.

And the get-out-the-vote campaign may be one area where Wilson can best help himself, local party leaders said.

The local GOP central committee has budgeted $324,000 for the November election campaign, with contributions requested from the conservative Lincoln Club of Orange County, the state Republican Party and the campaigns of Huffington and Wilson. All of the parties, except for the Wilson campaign, have donated money or made down payments on their pledges to contribute.

* WILSON BACKS PROP. 187

Gov. Pete Wilson officially endorsed Proposition 187 during a luncheon in San Diego Saturday. A3