Gore Will Support Rep. Sanchez in O.C.

Vice President Al Gore will join Rep. Loretta Sanchez for a campaign visit to central Orange County next month, including a major fund-raiser for the freshman Democrat.

Gore’s trip will include a ground-breaking ceremony at the future Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana and a stop at a school in Anaheim.

Sanchez expects to raise $250,000 at the luncheon fund-raiser with Gore at the Disneyland Hotel on March 20, said her campaign spokesperson.

Sanchez, who has enjoyed strong White House backing, got a boost from an appearance in Santa Ana with President Bill Clinton a few weeks before the 1996 election.

Several of her Republican opponents expect to use her close ties to the administration to attack her in the fall campaign, they said.

But Sanchez has gone to great lengths to portray herself as a Democrat acceptable to Republicans, in part by emphasizing moderate economic views and her middle-of-the-road ratings from such groups as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Christian Coalition.

The Discovery Science Center event is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Sanchez helped secure $1 million in federal funding for the project.

Sanchez fund-raisers began phoning potential donors on Wednesday for the lunch event, where the seats will go for $500 to $2,000.

Sanchez’s office also announced that the congresswoman and her husband, Stephen Brixey, have bought a home in north Santa Ana. She previously lived in a rented condominium in Garden Grove.

Peter M. Warren can be reached at (714) 966-5982. His e-mail address is peter.warren@latimes.com