Sanchez Goes Nationwide in Fund-Raising for ’98 Race

Preparing for what could be the most expensive congressional race of 1998, Rep. Loretta Sanchez has begun a phone bank operation to tap likely contributors nationwide and create a support list for her campaign.

The unusual national strategy by a junior member of Congress is an attempt to use the Garden Grove Democrat’s hard-won celebrity to attract contributions from traditional Democratic donors and augment that with backing from women, Latinos, abortion rights advocates and others.

Robert K. Dornan, the incumbent Republican that Sanchez unseated in 1996 and a likely opponent in Orange County’s 46th Congressional District race, also has been fund-raising for nearly a year, preparing for a rematch that both sides predict will cost between $3 million and $4 million. That would double the $1.55 million the two spent in last year’s contest and put it among the most costly congressional races ever.

Dornan, using the direct-mail technique he perfected in 18 years in Congress, is reaching out to conservatives around the country, relying on hot-button issues and his own renown to solicit money in relatively small amounts from thousands of supporters.

Sanchez has been targeted for defeat by the state and national GOP. In addition, a congressional committee is investigating Dornan’s allegation that it should overturn her 984-vote election victory because of voting irregularities.

The investigation has been hotly debated by the House several times this fall, with Democrats labeling it a witch hunt and GOP leaders suggesting there may be sufficient evidence to call a new election.

The intensity of the 1998 election fight is underscored by both sides’ aggressive fund-raising tactics. Telemarketing and direct mail are initially very expensive but can be effective during extended political campaigns when there is time to create a core list of donors who give repeatedly.

Such methods are commonly the province of U.S. senators, presidential candidates or others with a national audience. For a congressional freshman to try it and have success would be surprising, said several political consultants.

“It is not unprecedented, but it is unusual,” said Harvey Englander, West Coast director of the Kamber Group, a political consulting and public relations firm. “[Sanchez] has become somewhat of a cause celebre with a number of groups.”

Englander, who works with Republicans and Democrats, said Sanchez has become “a symbol to Democrats” of their possible resurgence. “She is a Democrat who won in the GOP heartland of Orange County,” he said. Most significantly, she has moved beyond being known “as the Dornan slayer” and now has “a name in her own right,” he said.

Sanchez wants to cash in on that visibility as she readies for what could be several elections in one year, said Wylie Aitken, Sanchez’s campaign chairman.

The goal is to raise $2 million, he said. The money would be spent for the June primary and general election in November, but might be needed sooner for a special election if Congress vacates Sanchez’s 1996 win.

“Loretta Sanchez is running and running hard,” Aitken said. “We take the Republicans at their word that she is one of their top five targets nationwide and we have to raise a substantial amount of money to fight off the forces of evil.”

Advisors to Sanchez described as remarkable the response from contributors to the “cold calls” made for her in the past two months by an El Segundo telemarketing firm.

“This has been very successful; unprecedented for a member of Congress in our experience,” said Mike Gordon, whose firm has been doing political fund-raising for 13 years.

In addition to the phone campaign, Sanchez has made fund-raising appearances in the home districts of a dozen Democratic colleagues. In the past five months, she has attended such events from Texas to Minnesota, and from Connecticut to Washington state. She has reported raising $152,000 as of June 30, according to the most recent campaign filing. Sanchez will exceed her year-end goal of $600,000, spokesman Lee Godown said.

The phone solicitations throughout the country have been going on seven days a week since mid-October from phone banks in San Diego and Sacramento, Gordon said. The lists target people who vote in Democratic primaries and those who have given to “traditional Democratic and progressive causes,” he said.

The campaign at first targeted only women, but found that men were equally receptive to the appeal, he said. Gordon would not discuss how much money was raised, the number of pledges or be specific about how many calls are planned.

“We are having success because people recognize that what is being done to her by [House Speaker Newt] Gingrich and Dornan and the members of the congressional right is a blatant move to have her spend her resources to defend herself and weaken her chance at reelection,” Gordon said.

The Sanchez message plays to its Democratic audience and calls Dornan “a radical-right, anti-AIDS funding, gay-bashing” Republican who lost the election “but hasn’t conceded” because Dornan claims “noncitizens cast ballots” in the contest. The solicitors say Gingrich could resort to “blatant politics” and overturn the election, and seeks a donation so Sanchez “can hit the ground running and be ready.”

For his part, Dornan has been mailing solicitations to a variety of targeted conservative voters and donors since January. He expects to raise about $1.3 million by year’s end, he said.

Dornan raised $608,000 and spent $450,000 on the direct-mail appeal as of June 30, according to his latest campaign report. Much of the money went to refine his mailing list. He claims to have developed a group of 40,000 core givers from his mail prospecting.

Three other Republicans also say they will run in the June primary; all expect to have raised $100,000 by the end of the year. They are: Superior Court Judge James P. Gray, family law attorney Lisa Hughes and Anaheim Councilman Bob Zemel.

Gray has raised about $45,000, most of it from friends and others contacted by friends, he said.

Hughes, too, has relied on “traditional fund-raising” strategies, such as a dinner tonight in Laguna Beach, spokesman John Theiss said. Hughes has substantial financial assets and has vowed to spend what’s necessary to win.

Zemel also has used local fund-raisers, including a luncheon last week that brought in $30,000, campaign manager Jonathan Choi said. However, Zemel--who has hired Ralph Reed, former director of the Christian Coalition as his campaign consultant--is testing whether he can exploit Reed’s name to raise cash nationally.

“We would use Ralph Reed as the marquee draw on a fund-raising letter,” said Choi, adding that “Ralph is on board with Bob Zemel and we need to elect a pro-life, pro-business candidate like Bob.”

As with the Sanchez and Dornan solicitations, such an effort would be expensive. Fund-raising experts said the high upfront cost of direct mail or telemarketing results from having to contact perhaps 100 people to find 10 donors.

“Each contribution can cost $30 on the initial go-round,” said Gordon, adding that the cost drops to perhaps $5 once the list is refined and people are identified who can be relied on to give repeatedly.

Dornan’s campaign report for June illustrates this. Several hundred donors are listed, with contributions typically ranging from $10 to $150. Many people gave as many as six or seven times throughout the first half of the year, as Dornan wrote them again and again.

So far, Dornan’s mailers have pressed the voter fraud issue with references to “the left-wing media” and “foreigners voting,” and describes Sanchez as a “radical feminist.” He promises to expand that next year with his traditional blasts at “partial birth infanticide and homosexual rights.”

“I feel security going into next year because I have my mail list revived,” he said. “We have prospected it and added a new loyal group to it, new power to it.

“I will have no problem financing a full-blown mailing campaign against Loretta with a hard-hitting message that will target her with the Hispanic community as pro-homosexual and pro birth-canal baby-brain-extraction abortion,” Dornan said, referring to partial-birth abortions.

“It will be the hottest race in the country.”