LOCAL ELECTIONS / 38th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : Halls of Academia Produce a Keen Political Rivalry

Two years ago, Steve Horn used longtime connections crafted as an administrator and professor at Cal State Long Beach to buck a Democratic tide, sailing into the House of Representatives as one of a handful of Republican newcomers.

Now, with Republicans talking optimistically about making major gains in the November election, the tide is running the other way. But ironically, Horn faces a stiff challenge in the 38th Congressional District from Democrat Peter Mathews, who is vying to be one of a handful of Democrats to beat a Republican incumbent in a widely proclaimed GOP year.

A Mathews victory also would make him the first American of East Indian descent in Congress since 1963.

Political analysts still predict Horn will prevail. Charles E. Cook Jr., the Washington-based editor of the Cook Political Report, acknowledges that Mathews’ success in raising money means “he’s a guy who’s credible.”

But noting the general trend bolstering Republicans this fall, Cook adds of Mathews’ chances: “There’s a phrase I keep finding myself plugging in here: ‘In any other year . . . ‘ “

Mathews, a 41-year-old political science professor at Cypress College who has taken a leave of absence to concentrate on his campaign, remains optimistic. “I’d say we’re on the road to victory,” he said recently in a Lakewood television studio, where he was to debate Horn.

Horn, 63, a former president of Cal State Long Beach, is taking nothing for granted. “We’ve been getting nothing but a good reception,” he said. “But you should always run scared.”

The numbers should be enough to scare a GOP congressman. Horn represents a district in which 51% of the registered voters are Democrats, and only 36% are Republicans. But Horn’s brand of moderate Republicanism, combined with a lot of attention to such local issues as keeping the Long Beach Naval Shipyard open, has struck a chord in the district, political observers say.

Horn’s “careful attention to detail . . . in the district” should enable him to withstand Mathews’ challenge, contends local political consultant Jeff Adler.

The district includes Long Beach, Signal Hill, Lakewood, Bellflower, Paramount, Downey and parts of San Pedro and Wilmington. It is an area hard hit by aerospace and defense cutbacks. The district’s major employer, McDonnell Douglas Corp.’s Douglas Aircraft Co. in Long Beach, has laid off 30,000 workers since 1990.

In his first term, Horn has been a leader not only in efforts to keep the Navy shipyard off a federal list of facilities targeted for closing, but also to block cutbacks in Defense Department orders for McDonnell Douglas’ C-17 military cargo jets.

So effective has Horn been on these issues, supporters say, that a number of prominent Democrats are staying neutral in the race. And some, such as former Lakewood Mayor Jacqueline Rynerson and former Long Beach Assemblyman Fred W. Chel, have endorsed him.

Until recently, the campaign was what might be expected from a pair of academicians--civilized and high-toned, with tame discussions about the relative merits of various national health care proposals. But as Election Day nears, the two candidates are increasingly contentious, with plenty of finger-pointing.

Horn, who speaks in a rolling baritone, has accused his challenger of deliberately misrepresenting Horn’s fund-raising practices. “That’s a lie and you know it,” Horn growled at Mathews during one debate, responding to a charge that he had taken money from political action committees despite a pledge not to.

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Mathews, who has previously lost bids in congressional and assembly races, charged Horn with spreading bigotry by suggesting that he would be beholden to his East Indian contributors.

Mathews, a youthful-looking man who drives a vintage Plymouth Valiant, has raised more than $100,000 by appealing to a national network of East Indian professionals, most of them physicians. Referring to those fund-raising efforts, Horn charged, “When Peter goes around the U.S., he says, ‘If you elect me, I’ll have a dual allegiance.’ ”

Mathews responded: “I’m surprised that you would stoop so low as to talk about ethnic slurs.”

The challenger concedes that he would try to make Washington more sensitive to “the complexities of Indian politics.”

“What’s wrong with that?” he asks. “(Democratic Sen. Edward M.) Kennedy (of Massachusetts) represents the Irish.”

Mathews also has been attacking Horn’s record at Cal State Long Beach, where during his 17 years as president he was twice censured by the Academic Senate for trying to dismiss tenured faculty members. Horn was forced to resign from the presidency in 1988 after a management review team criticized his management skills--a finding which Horn dismisses as “political.”

Despite heated differences in debate, Horn and Mathews are often not that far apart on the issues. Horn has crossed party lines to vote for such measures as the Clinton Administration’s crime bill. Mathews voices some Republican-sounding positions, such as support for a balanced-budget amendment.

Also on the ballot are Libertarian Lester W. Mueller and Peace and Freedom candidate Richard K. Green.