Voter Turnout Is Crucial for Sanchez in 46th

Though she did not aggressively target Latino voters and was heavily outspent by her main opponents, surprise Democratic nominee Loretta Sanchez dominated the 46th Congressional District’s Latino precincts, possibly by virtue of her name alone.

But the bad news for the 36-year-old political unknown is that turnout in those precincts, most of which are in Santa Ana, remains dismally low, meaning Sanchez has her work cut out for her as she tries to unseat incumbent Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) in the November general election.

“It will take a tremendous amount of resources and a lot of money,” said Democratic analyst George Urch. “Dornan is a tenacious fighter. He comes at you with both fists flying and he has a strong base in that district.”

Dornan, 63, has continued to win elections despite the fact that the central district he represents, which also consists of Garden Grove and parts of Anaheim, is the only one in the county where Democrats outnumber Republicans among registered voters.

In winning the Democratic primary, Sanchez profited from a near-even split of Democratic votes by the favorites in the race, both of whom raised far more money than she did.

“People said that our win was a surprise,” Sanchez said. “To us, it was no surprise. We had a plan.”

But Sanchez won the right to face Dornan, an outspoken conservative, by capturing only 7,142 votes, according to figures released last week by the county registrar of voters. Michael P. Farber, who lost a bitter campaign against Dornan two years ago, received 6,125 votes and 5,574 people cast ballots for Jim Prince, who was heavily backed by the county Democratic Party. A fourth candidate, Robert J. Brennan, received 1,758 votes.

Of the district’s 72,255 registered Democrats, only 20,599 cast ballots in the election. In contrast, of the 62,444 registered Republicans, 25,905 cast ballots and 16,933 of those were for Dornan, according to the registrar.

“That’s always been the problem in this district,” said Robert Stienes, who was Prince’s campaign consultant in the primary race. “There are more Democrats, but in an election it is the Republicans who turn out. And a lot of Democrats consider themselves Republicans in the way that they vote.”

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Although her primary win was less than overwhelming, Sanchez showed strength throughout the district, particularly in Santa Ana, where she beat her rivals in 72 of 85 precincts, controlling areas with heavy Latino populations.

To select heavily Latino precincts in the 46th District, The Times used data gathered by Dick Lewis, an independent political data analyst based in Newport Beach. The figures were then matched against 1990 U.S. Census data.

Sanchez said she walked some of the Santa Ana precincts in the final weeks of the campaign and directed one of her six campaign mailers to Latino voters. It featured the candidate in a photo with three Latino members of Congress and listed endorsements from several prominent Latinos, including Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina.

Political experts say Sanchez’s surname was particularly helpful in attracting Latino voters. For the race, Sanchez dropped her married name of Brixey. When she unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Anaheim City Council in 1994, she appeared on the ballot as Loretta Sanchez-Brixey and finished sixth in a crowded field of 16.

But Sanchez and others said they knew she would enjoy a natural advantage over her three male Anglo opponents when it came to Latino voters.

“We made an aggressive effort to target the Latino community and had a lot of endorsements,” Stienes said. “But Loretta is Latino, and when it comes down to it, that is very important to Latino voters.”

Sanchez agreed, and as a result chose to focus much of her efforts on Garden Grove until the final weeks of the campaign, when she turned to Santa Ana’s Latino community.

“Latinos will vote for Latinos,” Sanchez said.

In order to have a chance against Dornan, analysts say, Sanchez will have to attract both Latinos and female voters in large numbers, as well as capture the voters who supported Farber and Prince.

“She’ll have to make a tremendous effort to get out the Latino vote, do a tremendous absentee vote and make a tremendous effort to get the lazy Democrat out to vote,” Stienes said. “She’s also got to try and pick up the moderate Republicans, especially Republican women.”

Dornan’s campaign officials did not return telephone calls this week to discuss Sanchez or the campaign. But Thomas A. Fuentes, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, said the party anticipates that Dornan will be “reelected overwhelmingly.”

“I had never heard of Mrs. Brixey before this election,” Fuentes said. “[Dornan] has had challenges from better, more well-funded candidates in the past, and they rolled off his back like water on a duck.”

Consultants said Sanchez may face questions about her affiliation with Howard O. Kieffer, a controversial figure who was once an activist in the Democratic Party.

In 1989, Kieffer was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to repay $212,724 that after pleading guilty to four counts of making false claims against the government for submitting phony tax returns. “I think he made some mistakes and paid the price,” Sanchez said. “He did time for that and moved on.”

Both said Friday that Kieffer, who contributed $700 to Sanchez’s primary campaign, served only as a volunteer during the primary campaign.

Sanchez’s campaign rents office space at District Counsel, a Santa Ana-based firm that collects delinquent assessments and special taxes for public agencies. Kieffer is a foreclosure analyst at the firm, and until she began her campaign, Sanchez had done paid consulting work for the company.

Kieffer said Sanchez “knew my background and she knew the situation and that’s why I’m just a volunteer. It shouldn’t be a political issue.

“Will Dornan bring it up? If Dornan wanted her to be a streetwalker on 4th Street in Santa Ana, he’ll make her one and have pictures,” he said.

Sanchez is a public finance specialist and principal stockholder in Amiga Advisors, a Lawndale-based corporation she founded in 1992. The corporation does financial analysis for private companies and governmental agencies, she said.

Kieffer helped walk a few of the Santa Ana precincts where Sanchez was so dominant. But in order to hold her own in Garden Grove, where Dornan enjoys his strongest support, Sanchez said she and her family walked precincts heavily, coming face to face with many ardent Dornan supporters.

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“We knew we had to go to the door and introduce ourselves,” she said. “We knocked on doors and let them know us.”

The effort paid off. Sanchez showed surprising strength in Garden Grove, winning or tying in 41 of 68 precincts.

Ironically, Sanchez was weakest in the Anaheim portion of the district, near where she grew up. She won or tied in 32 of 69 precincts in that city.

Since the primary, former opponent Farber has vowed to support Sanchez’s bid to unseat Dornan. His political consultant, Mike Kaspar, said he thinks this is possible.

“[Sanchez] will present Dornan with a lot of political problems,” Kaspar said. “She’s a Latino woman and there’s a built-in constituency for Loretta in that regard. I would expect Latinos and women to be very loyal to her.”

Sanchez said she knows the Latino vote will be very important come November. On the wall in a conference room in her Santa Ana office, which she calls “the war room,” the district areas most heavily populated by Latinos are colored with yellow magic marker.

“Everything will have to change,” Sanchez said of her tactics for the November election. “Everyone is going to have to love me before September. Then, [Dornan] will feel he has a race on his hands and he’ll come out and say all of the negative things if he’s true to form.

“I’ve met the Dornan vote door-to-door and they aren’t going to change their mind,” Sanchez added. “The general election is about getting the 55,000-60,000 votes.”

Sanchez and others say that in order for her to mount a realistic challenge, she will need to raise at least $750,000, particularly to pay for campaign mailers. In the primary, Sanchez spent $73,000 while Farber spent $468,000 and Prince spent $203,000, according to federal election reports.

Dornan raised more than $1 million for his 1994 general election campaign.

Wylie A. Aitken, an attorney and county Democratic Party activist, said he believes there are many local business and professional people who will be willing to donate to Sanchez’s campaign.

“I think she’s the kind of candidate who attracts a lot of support,” Aitken said. “This is one of only two races in Orange County that the Democrats can win. There is national interest in this race.”