Dornan to Test the Waters for Presidential Bid : Politics: Garden Grove congressman announces that he will enter early GOP primaries.

Conservative Orange County Rep. Robert K. Dornan took his possible presidential bid to the House floor Tuesday, unceremoniously announcing that he will test his candidacy in the early presidential caucus in Iowa and primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Although Dornan has been deliberating for months whether to seek the Republican nomination--a bid he previously conceded to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas--his speech on the floor signaled his growing intent to wage a campaign.

Having gained notoriety as a harsh, outspoken critic of liberal causes--focusing most of his attention in recent years on President Clinton--the former Air Force pilot said “I owe it to those men” who served with him in the military during the 1950s to enter the early GOP nominating contests.

“Only God knows the outcome, but I’m ready for what may be the toughest mission of my life,” Dornan said. “I don’t know how far I will go, but I’m going to give it a try.”

California Democratic Party Chairman Bill Press said Dornan “has as much a chance of being elected President as Madonna.”

“I applaud the news because at last we will get him out of the House of Representatives,” Press said. “He owes it to the people of Orange County to resign now because he will simply not be concerned about his congressional district, he will not be concerned about serving the people of Orange County. He will be concerned only about his already massive ego.”

Just last month, the Garden Grove Republican was stripped of his non-voting House floor privileges for a day after he refused to apologize for a remark on the House floor that President Clinton “gave aid and comfort to the enemy” during the Vietnam War.

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His caustic remarks had been stricken from the official House record on several occasions during his previous 16 years in the House, but that incident marked the first time in 21 years that House floor privileges were temporarily removed from a member of Congress.

Dornan was not available for comment Tuesday, but in an interview with the Los Angeles Times after his reelection last November to a ninth term in Congress, Dornan compared his presidential aspirations to those of Clinton.

“What motivated me to come into public life is the same thing that motivated Bill Clinton,” Dornan said last November. “Bill Clinton wants to do good and help those who have trouble helping themselves.”

“But the tragedy of Bill Clinton was that he thought that because his motives were good, he could do anything he wanted to do in his personal life,” Dornan said, referring to adultery charges made against the President.

But it is his outspoken style, as well as his opposition to gay rights and abortion and his strong advocacy for U.S. military forces, that has made Dornan a hero among conservatives.

After his recent expulsion from the floor, Dornan talked up his antics with radio talk-show hosts stationed in the Capitol’s basement and was featured that night on all major television network newscasts.

Feeling giddy at the end of the day, Dornan, 61, said it was days like that that encouraged him to seek the presidency.

Optimistic that he can make a good showing, Dornan believes Dole is the man to beat.

“I could gladly and positively campaign for this inspiring, handicapped war hero,” Dornan said during the November interview, referring to Dole’s World War II injury that crippled his right hand. “The others I will leave in my dust.”

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On Friday, Dornan will be one of a long list of speakers at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He also plans a trip to New Hampshire later this month for a major GOP dinner that is expected to draw the party’s presidential contenders.

In a straw poll conducted at a recent Louisiana state Republican convention, U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) led a 13-man field with 902 votes out of 1,248 cast, with columnist and commentator Patrick J. Buchanan receiving 150 votes. Dornan finished in 11th place with two votes.

But Dornan’s most formidable opponent may be fund raising, given the conventional wisdom that candidates need $25 million at the outset to wage serious campaigns.

Dornan touts his extensive fund-raising mailing list, although the campaign finance report filed last month showed Dornan with only $106,509 in cash on hand at the end of last year. The report showed that his reelection campaign raised and spent $1.6 million during 1994.

Although his congressional district has more Democratic than Republican voters, Dornan handily defeated Democrat Mike Farber, his opponent last November, by 20 percentage points.