California May Have Its Way . . . and Lose

Californians could find themselves engaged in a meaningless beauty contest when voting for presidential nominees in 2000 because of the state’s fledgling open primary and key rule changes by both the Democratic and Republican national committees.

Both major parties hope to resolve the quandary through Proposition 3 on the Nov. 3 ballot.

This little-noticed proposition, written by state Sen. John R. Lewis (R-Orange), would change the state’s presidential primary so voters would choose nominees only from candidates in their own party.

In short, it would gut the open-primary law for choosing presidential nominees only. Voters still would have carte blanche in voting for any nominee of any party in other races.

The impetus behind Lewis’ measure is a history lesson in the way presidential nominees are actually selected. Votes cast in primaries for, say, publishing magnate Steve Forbes actually select delegates pledged to Forbes. Those delegates then vote for Forbes at the party’s national convention.

If the measure fails, it means that voters could choose Forbes as the 2000 GOP presidential nominee, while party leaders make their own choice and send delegates pledged to, say, Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Passing Prop. 3 would bring state law in sync with party rules that refuse to seat delegations from states with open primaries.

But a recent GOP poll on the measure’s chances wasn’t good news, California Republican Party Chairman Michael Schroeder of Irvine said. Most voters want to preserve the popular open primary for presidential picks.

Ironically, all of this comes as Gov. Pete Wilson signed legislation moving up the state primary to March to give California more clout in determining the presidential nominees.

Despite the high stakes, neither party plans to spend much money promoting Prop. 3 beyond including a plug for it on slate cards mailed in the next four weeks. And neither party has a backup plan.

“If Prop. 3 fails, we’re going to have to bite the bullet and figure out how to deal with it,” Schroeder said.

Echoed Democratic Party official Bob Mulholland: “We’ll have to wait until we get there.”

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Procrastinators rejoice: Everyone who wants to vote in the Nov. 3 general election and hasn’t yet registered has several options for making Monday’s midnight deadline.

Volunteers with the county Republican Party will be on hand to register all voters at malls throughout the county today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The locations are Brea Mall in Brea, Laguna Hills Mall in Laguna Hills, MainPlace/Santa Ana, South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa and Westminster Mall in Westminster.

Officials with the county Democratic Party weren’t available to discuss their registration efforts.

The registrar of voters’ office will be open for last-minute registrations from 8 a.m. to midnight Monday. The address is 1300 S. Grand Ave., Santa Ana. For more information, call (714) 567-7600.

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Timely honor: Monday officially is “Assemblyman Jim Morrissey Day” in Santa Ana. This is the first time Santa Ana will have given an elected official an honorary day, and it comes less than a month before Morrissey, a Republican, and Democratic challenger Lou Correa face each other on the first Tuesday in November.

The honor comes courtesy of Santa Ana Councilmen Brett Franklin and Robert L. Richardson, both Republicans, who obtained city approval for the bestowal. The title is given frequently--at least once a month--to residents and business leaders nominated by council members.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr., a Democrat who supports Correa, said he was unaware of the action until a press release was issued.

Richardson said in a press release issued by Morrissey that the assemblyman deserves the honor, regardless of the timing, because he has worked tirelessly for Santa Ana in Sacramento.

“Not only does he advocate for Santa Ana in Sacramento, he is a local leader who is a familiar face at community events in the city,” Richardson said in the release.

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Hoax alert: OK, it was too good to be true. A quote racing across the Internet last week purported to recount Kenneth Starr telling Diane Sawyer in a “60 Minutes” interview in 1987:

“Our society should be purged of the perverts who provide the media with pornographic material while pretending it has some redeeming social value under the public’s ‘right to know.’ ”

Except Starr never was interviewed on “60 Minutes” by Diane Sawyer or anyone else, according to the show, which issued a press release debunking the fast-moving quote.

And, in true Web form, a page immediately surfaced at https://snopes.simplenet.com/spoons/noose/starr.htm to set the record straight.

The Web site is devoted to debunking so-called urban legends, statements or stories passed along elsewhere as real.

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Upcoming events:

* Tuesday: Republican state attorney general candidate Dave Stirling speaks at a breakfast meeting of the Building Industry Assn., 7:30 a.m., Westin South Coast Plaza hotel, 686 Anton Blvd., Costa Mesa. Cost is $50. Call (949) 553-9500.

* Wednesday: State and federal candidates and elected officials reception, 5 to 7 p.m., Irvine Marriott Hotel, 18000 Von Karman Ave., Irvine. Sponsored by Irvine Chamber of Commerce. Cost is $5 for members, $10 for visitors. Call (949) 660-9112.

* Thursday: Gov. Pete Wilson’s Annual Conference for Women, Long Beach Convention Center, 8:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Keynote speaker is Diane Sawyer of ABC News. Cost is $80. Call (650) 548-2424.

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Compiled by staff writer Jean O. Pasco, who covers politics for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7712 or by e-mail at Jean.Pasco@latimes.com. Information can be faxed to Campaign Journal at (714) 966-7711.