CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / 67TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : It’s a Political Smorgasbord--but No Seconds : Four candidates, including a well-financed newcomer and a Democrat, will vie in winner-take-all race if Doris Allen is recalled.

Voters in the 67th Assembly District will have a banquet of choices in the winner-take-all election next Tuesday to succeed Assemblywoman Doris Allen if she is recalled.

The three Republicans and one Democrat who remain in the Nov. 28 contest--the GOP’s Haydee Tillotson withdrew last week--have widely varying positions on the race’s key issues. The candidates--a lawyer, a teacher, a businessman and a nurse--include three longtime officeholders from Huntington Beach, the northwest Orange County district’s dominant city. The fourth is a local political newcomer.

Regardless of this broad spectrum, the exit of the conservative Tillotson has sharply altered the contest’s complexion. She was the best-funded candidate, having raised $255,000--much of it her own money--and spent $197,190 on the campaign through Saturday, according to the most recent campaign reports.

But despite that largess, Tillotson lagged in private GOP polling. She reportedly was running behind both Democrat Linda Moulton-Patterson and the even more conservative Scott Baugh, who is backed by the Orange County congressional delegation and 25 Republican state legislators.

Tillotson, 56, was persuaded last week to quit the contest by local Republican Party leaders, who feared that a continuation of the current divisive campaign--fueled by a barrage of negative mailers from her and Baugh--could split the Republican vote and give Moulton-Patterson an upset win.

Most Republican observers believe Tillotson’s exit assures the young newcomer’s victory, though Tillotson pointedly did not endorse Baugh.

But neither of Baugh’s remaining GOP rivals was conceding an inch this week, nor was Moulton-Patterson. Tillotson’s name will remain on the ballot and some were speculating she could draw a protest vote.

Don MacAllister, a former Huntington Beach mayor and councilman, said the trimming of the GOP field will “increase my chances and the potential for a well-known local person to be successful.”

Shirley Carey--a two-term member of the Huntington Beach Elementary School District--said Tillotson’s withdrawal “invigorated everybody” in her campaign because it creates the opportunity for her to be the candidate of those looking for a “mainstream Republican and a woman” to represent them.

Significantly, some 14,130 absentee ballots have already been cast in the race out of a total 29,350 sought by Monday morning. A recent GOP poll of absentee voter applicants showed Baugh with a 2-1 lead, and a larger ratio among those who had cast their absentee ballots, according to a party source who supports Baugh. In second place was Moulton-Patterson, who was somewhat ahead of Tillotson, he said.

Other sources believe the poll heavily affected Tillotson, who increasingly recognized the threat from Moulton-Patterson and saw that her campaign, to have any success, would have to continue the negative mail war with Baugh.

Moulton-Patterson’s campaign consultant, Parke Skelton, said Tillotson’s “exit would not change our strategy” of appealing to Democrats and mainstream Republicans.

“I am not sure all of that Tillotson vote goes to Baugh,” he said. “It could go to other GOPs or stay at home.”

Some others, however, believe Moulton-Patterson’s chances of victory were dashed by Tillotson’s withdrawal. The former Huntington Beach councilwoman needs a massive turnout of Democrats, particularly to overcome the heavy absentee ballot drives by the recall and Baugh campaigns, which solicited about 18,000 absentee ballots, according to both campaigns.

In recent weeks, however, Moulton-Patterson has received a significant boost in her financial contributions, bringing total campaign funds raised to $64,578. That is more than double the amount raised by Carey and MacAllister combined, but significantly less than Baugh, who has raised $168,956 and spent nearly the same amount.

With Assembly Republican leader Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) actively soliciting contributions for Baugh among political action committees and other interest groups around the state, Baugh’s financial might should increase significantly as the campaign ends. Baugh’s largest contribution to date is from Howard Ahmanson, the Orange County conservative and Christian philanthropist, who gave his campaign $30,000.

The Baugh camp predicts victory. Baugh said Tillotson’s departure means “the focus will be more on exposing the record of Linda Moulton-Patterson and showing the voters there is a bright line of demarcation between our conservative agenda and Moulton-Patterson’s liberal agenda.”

The Moulton-Patterson campaign believes the unusual timing of the contest--coming in the midst of the Thanksgiving and Christmas season--is a critical factor.

“I think this is an election that turns on who goes to vote,” said Jerry Patterson, who is managing his wife’s campaign. “I am convinced if this election were held next March in conjunction with the [heavier turnout expected for the] primary, she would win. The key is who motivates their people.”

Each of the campaigns is expected to put a maximum effort into voter turnout. There are 207,538 registered voters in the district, half of them Republicans and a third Democrats.

Here is a look at the four candidates in the race to succeed Allen:

Scott R. Baugh, Republican

A newcomer to Orange County political life, Baugh owes his prominent position in the race to his patron, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach).

Baugh, whose political views are free market and pure conservative, struck a chord with the congressman when they met in August. Rohrabacher was sampling the mettle of as many as seven other prospective candidates as he searched for a political soul mate to carry his endorsement in the upcoming election.

Rohrabacher settled on Baugh--after the 33-year-old lawyer for Union Pacific Railroad had demonstrated he had the means and the drive to win.

“I really identify with Scott,” Rohrabacher said. “He is a philosophically committed person and a fighter.”

Baugh, a Huntington Beach resident who registered to vote in Orange County four years ago, has neither held nor run for public office before. But he raised about $100,000 in a single month to demonstrate his seriousness to Rohrabacher and never looked back.

He mounted a very aggressive mail campaign and was able to parlay that, and the lead it gave him in polls conducted by Republican Party leaders, into almost three dozen major endorsements. Last night, he added the backing of the Orange County Republican Party Central Committee.

The campaign’s strategy is to “mobilize conservative forces, including Christian forces, the pro-life community and the pro-gun community,” Baugh said.

Most significantly, he also wrapped up the endorsements of Republican Assembly Leader Curt Pringle of Garden Grove and Sen. John R. Lewis of Orange. Strategists behind the recall campaign against Allen, these two party leaders were also charged with ensuring that the 67th Assembly seat went to a Republican who would be “a team player” in Sacramento.

Baugh dismisses those who criticize him for a lack of experience in local politics or community service.

“This seat is for a state office to help move a Republican agenda, and the people who want to move that Republican agenda have endorsed me because they believe I am the best candidate,” he said. “I am the one who can win, and I have the right message and the right campaign strategy to communicate my philosophy to the voters.”

Shirley Carey, Republican

Friends and colleagues say it is difficult to find someone in Huntington Beach with a negative comment about Shirley Carey.

A nurse, a mother of three and an active school board trustee, Carey is the personification of an involved citizen, said Duane Dishno, superintendent of the Huntington Beach City School District for the past five years.

“Any superintendent would love to have a board full of Shirleys,” Dishno said. “She is scrupulously honest, very thoughtful and very persistent. If Shirley identifies an issue as a problem or a concern, she will stay on it until it is resolved.”

Carey said she would tackle the issues of senior citizens, education and health care with the same zeal if elected to the Assembly.

“I decided to run because I felt there was a need for a Republican advocate in these fields,” said Carey, 56, a Huntington Beach resident since 1969. “They are my highest priority, and I think I could bring expertise to the Legislature that others don’t have.”

For a track record, Carey will point to her five years on the Huntington Beach City School District board. When she arrived in 1990, the district was mired in petty politics and squabbling between teachers and administrators, a situation that has now turned around, she said.

“The school district then was a lot like what is happening now in state politics,” Carey said. “But within a short period of time, we were able to refocus the effort on the schools and education. I think now the community is very well satisfied with what’s going on.”

But people are not satisfied with the status quo in the county Republican Party, which spends too much time “politicking” and is obsessed with control, Carey said. This Assembly election, where an unknown like Scott Baugh has been anointed to the seat by the party, is a case in point, she said.

“This election is a perfect example of how money from special interests can destroy the will of the citizenry,” Carey said. “Everyone I know is saying ‘Scott who?’ He’s an absolute unknown being built by special interests into something he is not. . . . I think the wrong person dropped out of the race.”

Tillotson’s surprising withdrawal will help Carey’s candidacy, Carey believes, particularly if she can get the word out to the voters about her character and the qualities she holds dear.

“Shirley is the moderate, mainstream Republican in this race,” said Dan Wooldridge, her consultant. “Our best hope is that people will turn out and vote and re-take over the political process by participating.”

Don MacAllister, Republican

Don MacAllister not only talks a conservative line, he looks the part.

The former Huntington Beach mayor’s close-cropped hair is nearly a 1950s-era flattop, and the only flash on his nondescript blue jacket is a GOP elephant pin that matches his elephant tie clasp.

“I am definitely a conservative,” said the tall, amiable MacAllister, 62, as he sat outside a Main Street cafe in Huntington Beach drinking coffee. “I’d like to simplify government, to see the Legislature go back to being a part-time job. Our state was founded on the idea of part-time legislators and I don’t see any need to be full-time.”

MacAllister, a marketing consultant, has not hired a political consultant, has pledged to stay within his $25,000 campaign budget--$13,000 of it his own money--and expects no help from county party bosses because he is his own man, MacAllister said.

Nor did MacAllister pay much attention to people who urged him not to run because they feared too many Republicans would dilute the GOP vote.

“No one gave me a compelling reason not to run, and I believe I have as much reason as anyone else to run,” MacAllister said. “The voters will make that decision. I’m not concerned.”

Ideally, the voters’ decisions should not be based on endorsements nor the war of mailers being waged throughout the district, MacAllister said. He has sent one mailer, plans perhaps only one more and is counting on his record in Huntington Beach, the largest city in the district, he said.

“Maybe I’m naive, but I hope the voters see through all the money being spent and look at community service, dedication and proven experience,” MacAllister said. “That’s what I am basing my campaign on.”

MacAllister is proud of the progress made by the city of Huntington Beach, where he has lived for 30 years, but believes most cities and Orange County suffer from a common problem: Too much local tax money is siphoned off at various levels of government.

“These funds should come back down to the cities and county to give citizens more local control,” he said.

MacAllister, who acknowledges he is a long-shot candidate, is not happy about the six-figure campaign spending by Republican candidate Scott Baugh, nor some of the attacks included in Baugh’s mailers. But he vowed not to dwell on the negative.

“I don’t attack anybody,”MacAllister said.

If someone is looking for a legislator who is a former Navy man, who has established roots in Huntington Beach and raised a family there, who has been in sales for more than 35 years and has built his own successful business, MacAllister is that candidate.

“We need more business people in the Legislature who understand budgets and want to reduce government over-regulation,” he said. “My 25 years of service not only in Huntington Beach, but in the entire community, should bring me some votes. I’ve paid my dues.”

Linda Moulton-Patterson, Democrat

With Tillotson’s withdrawal, the dawning prospects of the race’s only Democrat suddenly dwindled.

But don’t expect Fountain Valley resident Moulton-Patterson, 52, to give up, despite a whopping disadvantage in campaign cash compared to the Republican front-runner, Scott Baugh. The heavy dose of state Democratic Party resources that most outsiders expected for the race’s final week now might not materialize. But Moulton-Patterson still might be able to tap into the district’s coastal Democrats and swing Republicans who favor her stances in favor of a woman’s right to choose abortion and her reputation as an environmentalist.

Elected in 1990 to the Huntington Beach City Council, Moulton-Patterson served one four-year term before giving up her seat for an unsuccessful run for the Orange County Board of Supervisors, a contest she ultimately lost to City Council colleague Jim Silva in a runoff. She also served on the California Coastal Commission from 1991 until her departure from the council.

During those stints, Moulton-Patterson earned a reputation as a straight shooter who worked to protect the ecologically sensitive Bolsa Chica wetlands from overdevelopment and fought to prevent the construction of four sprawling restaurants on the beachfront of a municipality long known as Surf City.

The wife of the region’s former congressman, Democrat Jerry Patterson, she gained national attention in 1992 when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention about her battle with breast cancer.

Her endorsements in the Assembly race reflect Moulton-Patterson’s most heartfelt beliefs. She is backed by the National Women’s Political Caucus, Women in Leadership, the Sierra Club and the league of Conservation Voters.

A grade school teacher, Moulton-Patterson also is a staunch defender of public education who opposed the failed 1993 school voucher initiative.

But in the race to represent an Assembly district where voter registration is more than half Republican, Moulton-Patterson has taken pains to highlight her more moderate beliefs. In a “Pledge to Voters” contained in one mailer, she vows to avoid party politics and partisan bickering and promises never to vote to raise taxes. She also pledged to fight against cuts in Medicare or Social Security, an appeal tailor-made for elderly voters.