Dornan Looking at Rematch

Conservative Robert K. Dornan appeared to be solidly beating his Republican rivals Tuesday night to set up a rematch against U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, the Democrat who defeated him in a close contest two years ago.

Dornan was leading his two main opponents--lawyer Lisa Hughes and Superior Court Judge James P. Gray--by a 2-1 margin with about half the precincts reporting early today.

“Bring the darling little lady on,” Dornan said Tuesday in declaring victory. “This will be a classic House battle: liberal versus conservative. She is an excellent campaigner, an absolute zip as a congresswoman. She does nothing in D.C.”

Sanchez said she was primed and ready to take on Dornan anew in a race that will probably be among the hottest--and most expensive--congressional contests in the nation this year.

“Bob Dornan believes this election is about him,” Sanchez said. “We all know Bob Dornan can run a mean campaign. We’re going to run on our record and leave the judgment up to the voters. . . . He tried to take this seat away before. He’ll stop at practically nothing to try to do that again.”

Congressional leaders view the race as a key battleground for control of the House. A loss by Sanchez would hurt Democratic efforts to gain the 11 seats they need to capture a majority.

Tuesday’s primary was something of a referendum on Dornan’s relentless effort to overturn Sanchez’s 984-vote victory in the 1996 race, which he claimed was tainted by illegal ballots cast by hundreds of Latino residents who weren’t yet legal citizens.

Voter registration in the district is 25% Latino and 12% Asian and nearly all of the rest white. The 46th District includes almost all of Santa Ana and Garden Grove, half of Anaheim and pieces of seven other cities.

Dornan’s contentions and his stop-the-presses rhetoric inflamed many Latinos. Democrats in Orange County and in Congress depicted Dornan and the GOP as racist. His loss also frosted Orange County Republican leaders, who grumbled that Dornan let Sanchez establish a Democratic beachhead in their GOP domain. The victory turned her into a national heroine.

But that was then. Though he hardly campaigned as Sanchez bagged his seat in 1996, Dornan this year has raised $1.9 million--and spent most of it in the primary--while hitting the hustings with a fervor. Dornan and Sanchez, who got $2 million in donations, raised more than any other congressional candidates except for top leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties.

Dornan pushed hard this year to hold together his old coalition, including abortion opponents, Vietnamese immigrants, blue-collar Democrats and gun-rights advocates.

His stances on the issues were vintage Dornan.

He vowed to return all taxing power to states and have them forward revenue to the federal government. During the transition period, he promised to back a flat tax with limited deductions. He promised not to touch Social Security for senior citizens, but he did support optional, partial privatization. And he backed vouchers for defraying the cost of private schooling.

During the closing days, Dornan repeated his threat to run as a write-in Republican if he lost, saying Hughes had broken “Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment” by attacking a fellow Republican. Dornan last week mailed sharply worded hit pieces against Sanchez but none targeting his GOP rivals.

Hughes began campaigning early last year. A wealthy family-law attorney, she personally financed most of her campaign. Hughes flooded the district with mail for weeks before election day and targeted voters of all parties with telephone calls. She also ran cable television ads.

In the last week of the campaign, Hughes proved willing to pick a fight. She hit Dornan three times with slashing mailers and targeted another at Gray. Two of the mailers were sent to Democratic voters. She called Dornan “an embarrassment to our community” and declared that it is “time to stop the politics of fear and hate.”

Hughes campaigned on a slate of conservative issues. She tried to ignore the abortion issue, where her support for first-trimester abortions could hurt her with conservative voters. She also opposed gun control and promised to work on replacing the income tax with a flat or national sales tax. She vowed to protect seniors on Social Security but wanted an optional privatized system for others. She also supported school vouchers.

Abandoned by her mother at 8, Hughes spent part of her early life in foster homes. But she overcame her disadvantages to compile an impressive resume of accomplishments. Aside from her flourishing law practice, Hughes is state lottery chairwoman, a trustee at the Orangewood Foundation and a certified public accountant.

Gray and Dornan labeled her a carpetbagger during the campaign, saying she was too rich to represent the district’s working-class constituency. She lives in Orange--outside the district. She put her house up for sale before election day--listing it at nearly $3 million--and promised to move into the district.

Hughes countered such contentions by dismissing Gray’s candidacy as a mere nuisance and saying she would win simply by “letting Bob Dornan beat Bob Dornan.”

Gray, who took an unpaid leave from the bench to run, used shoe leather and volunteers to mount his campaign. He raised more money than Hughes but lacked the personal wealth to compete through mail or on TV.

The judge walked precincts daily, going through trailer parks, neighborhoods and apartment complexes, delivering his message in English or the Spanish he learned for service in the Peace Corps. He talked bluntly of his desire to capture crossover Democrats in the state’s first blanket primary.

Gray, who has an adopted Vietnamese son and served in the Navy during Vietnam, worked hard to capture votes from Asians and Latinos. He also reached out to independents and Democrats.

But his candidacy was shadowed by his very public 1992 declaration that the war on drugs had failed and that narcotics should be legalized. During the campaign, Gray insisted that he merely had wanted to create a debate on the issue.

Gray, who was appointed a judge by then-Gov. George Deukmejian, campaigned in part on his accomplishments during 14 years on the bench, including the creation of peer-pressure drug courts in high school and student programs to deter drunk driving. He was twice named judge of the year.