Hurtt, Morrissey Seek Distance From Dornan

Times are good. The Orange County economy is perky. So it would seem a dream year for political incumbents. Except, perhaps, for Assemblyman Jim Morrissey and state Sen. Rob Hurtt.

Both Republicans face testy reelection battles in their overlapping central Orange County districts this fall. But they’re not just worried about their Democratic foes.

Hurtt, of Garden Grove, and Morrissey, of Santa Ana, also face fallout from the looming war in the 46th Congressional District, where Republican Robert K. Dornan hopes to recapture the seat he lost two years ago to Democrat Loretta Sanchez of Garden Grove.

The battle between Dornan and Sanchez is expected to be a doozy, among the most expensive in the country. Experts say the tight race could whip up a big voter turnout and energize the region’s Latino and Democratic electorates.

That could mean trouble for Morrissey and Hurtt, conservatives whose districts cover much of the same central county terrain as the congressional seat.

To insulate themselves, the incumbents are running conspicuously independent campaigns, trying to distance themselves from Dornan. As one Republican wag put it: “They’re not running with Dornan, they’re running away from him.”

Hurtt and Morrissey won’t go that far, but they are both taking a cautious approach, mounting campaigns that will spare no expense.

They will work with Dornan on the nuts and bolts of the ground war, such as trying to get out the vote on election day. But they won’t be anywhere near Dornan’s coattails.

“I don’t think we’re all going to be holding hands at [campaign] events,” Hurtt said. “We’ll try to avoid the negatives [Dornan] might have.”

Morrissey wouldn’t even talk directly about Dornan. “I’m running my own race,” he said. “I’ve been there for my district. And I’m out there now.”

Among the negatives Democrats are expected to exploit is Dornan’s push to reverse his 1996 election loss.

The vociferous Republican claims that Sanchez stole the election with the help of hundreds of noncitizens who voted illegally--contentions Latinos say were leveled at them.

A congressional investigation concluded earlier this year that more than 700 votes had been cast illegally, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Sanchez’s margin of victory. Ultimately, Congress chose not to overturn the race.

Dornan’s dogged pursuit of the matter drew the ire of Latino leaders and will almost certainly be exploited by Democratic operatives eager to boost turnout among rank-and-file Latinos. In the 1996 general election, less than one out of four Latinos turned out to vote in the 46th Congressional District.

For his part, Dornan doesn’t dispute that Hurtt and Morrissey have shied away. With Democrats unfairly labeling him a racist, Dornan said, he has become “radioactive.”

“I have given Hurtt and Morrissey my blessing to run separate from me until they feel comfortable I’ve won back my prior excellent standing in the Hispanic community,” Dornan said. “By election day, I will have neutralized the negatives.”

Some pundits think that the mere presence on the ballot of Dornan--a conservative icon reviled by liberals--will pump up turnout among Democrats who normally stay home in a nonpresidential election. That could particularly hurt Morrissey in the 69th Assembly District, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 51% to 32%.

“Bob Dornan certainly has his liabilities, and Morrissey and Hurtt don’t want to be tied to that,” said Allan Hoffenblum, a Republican political analyst. “I think it will have a severe impact on both their races.”

Not everyone agrees. Wayne Johnson, a conservative Sacramento consultant, predicted a Republican sweep in central Orange County.

“I think Bob Dornan has an excellent chance of regaining that seat,” Johnson said. “And if he happens to lose, I don’t think it’s going to have an impact down ballot” on Hurtt and Morrissey.

Hurtt has the most favorable position among the three GOP candidates because Democrats hold only a slight voter registration edge over Republicans in the 34th Senate District. But he has not been very visible, Hoffenblum said, mostly because Hurtt never really has been challenged in a campaign since he first won the seat in a 1993 special election.

That probably will change this year. His Democratic opponent, Joseph Dunn, is a 39-year-old attorney with close ties to both the Democratic establishment and a statewide trial lawyers group that provides heavy financial backing to the party’s candidates.

Dunn, for his part, suggests it is almost inevitable that he’ll enjoy some positive spillover from the congressional contest.

“I’m very excited there’s a war between Loretta and Dornan,” he said. “The attention that will be focused on that race and the effect it will have on motivating voters will have an impact on my race and the Morrissey race.”

Though he refused to divulge campaign strategy, Dunn said Hurtt shares most of the same beliefs as Dornan, making it easier for Democrats to draw a link between them.

“This is a working-class community,” he said. “The issues that motivate them to vote for Loretta are the same ones that will motivate them to vote for me.”

Hurtt, though not discounting Dunn, said he believes he drew a more serious challenger this year simply because Democrats wanted to tie up his pocketbook. Throughout the 1990s, Hurtt has used wealth he gleaned from his Garden Grove manufacturing company to become one of the biggest financiers of Republican candidates and causes in the Golden State.

“The Democrats’ strategy will be to tie us around Dornan’s neck,” Hurtt said. “But we won’t let them pigeonhole us.”

Even as he takes pains to draw a line between his campaign and Dornan’s, Hurtt suggested that the former congressman stands a good chance of winning.

“We didn’t see much of him in 1996 when he lost,” Hurtt said. “But now he’s in the district, he’s going to all the events. He got a solid primary vote.”

Hurtt also said Dornan has in the past been “abrasive,” but seems to be “trying to tone down his style.”

Morrissey, meantime, is taking his independent campaign to the streets. He has visited 15,350 homes as of last weekend, walking what he estimates is more than 436 miles during hand-shaking expeditions into the neighborhoods.

Such die-hard campaigning is a result of the 1996 election. Morrissey beat Democrat Lou Correa by a scant 93 votes. Correa has returned for Round Two, and Morrissey is leaving nothing to chance.

He delivers greetings to Latino constituents in Spanish, which he’s been perfecting since high school. He also has hired two Democrats as his top campaign advisors.

A conservative during his first term, Morrissey has surprised some by siding with Democrats on issues that resonate in his district.

In the past two years, for instance, he has scored high for a Republican on labor issues. And he attempted to build bridges to Latinos by siding with Democrats against Proposition 227, the June ballot measure that undercuts bilingual education.

Correa and his supporters say it’s merely a ruse to get reelected.

“Jim Morrissey is trying desperately to be a moderate Democrat,” said Gale Kaufman, Correa’s campaign strategist. “Part of that is getting as far away as he can from a true believer like Bob Dornan.”