Campaigns Get Into Gear for Holiday

It’s the end of summer, school is starting and nightfall is creeping into the afternoons. The Nov. 3 general election may be the furthest thing from most folks’ minds right now, but it’s D-day for politicians and candidates across Orange County.

Sixty days and counting.

True to political tradition, Labor Day weekend marks the kickoff of the fall campaigns, with a flurry of pre- and post-weekend candidate and fund-raising events.

The focus this year is on central Orange County, where its competitive voter registrations make for many nail-biter races. Elsewhere, Republican candidates enjoy bulletproof turnout advantages that deflate challengers’ chances and voter interest.

Half a dozen of this season’s hottest races all hail from the central county, where Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) is facing a challenge from former Rep. Robert K. Dornan, whom she defeated in 1996.

At the same time, Democrat Lou Correa is hoping to flip his 93-vote loss in 1996 to Assemblyman Jim Morrissey (R-Santa Ana), and Democratic newcomer Joe Dunn is buoyed by his close primary showing in June against Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove). The Dunn-Hurtt race was the only contest in the county with only two candidates on the ballot.

Contests for leadership of the county’s two largest cities, Santa Ana and Anaheim, already are underway. In Anaheim, Mayor Tom Daly is fighting off his council nemesis, Bob Zemel. The Republican Party of Orange County this month endorsed Zemel and pledged to spend $100,000 to defeat Daly, a Democrat.

And Santa Ana already has been buzzing over the race between recently indicted Santa Ana Councilman Ted R. Moreno and Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr.

Orange County Democrats got an early start on the Labor Day kickoff Thursday with the annual Harry S Truman Dinner. The fund-raiser at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers drew 300 people and netted more than $20,000 for the fall campaigns.

“We started our Labor Day kickoff on June 4,” California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres boasted at the fund-raiser. “We’re doing the grass roots we’ll need for November. And the fund raising never stops.”

Today, Sen. Barbara Boxer is scheduled to mix with union members, Democrats and other supporters at a fund-raiser at the Carpenter’s Union Hall in Orange to raise money to fend off her GOP challenger, state Treasurer Matt Fong.

Both major parties will skip scheduled events Monday in Orange County, but their candidates for governor will keep to a more traditional holiday schedule. Republican Dan Lungren will attend a waffle breakfast in Sacramento, a “working families” picnic in Fresno and an evening fund-raiser in Santa Clara. Democrat Gray Davis plans to fly to campaign events in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.

Sanchez is taking the weekend off for a getaway with her husband, Stephen Brixey, while Dornan will spend Labor Day with his grandchildren. He is scheduled to speak tonight to a humanities and social services class at Santa Ana College.

Local campaign activity resumes next week with two planned headquarters openings by the county Republican Party: a new Hurtt campaign office opens Wednesday in Buena Park, and a satellite party office opens Thursday in Newport Beach.

“This is the time we look forward to, when vacations are over and kids are back in school and people have time to volunteer again,” said Bill Christianson, executive director of the Orange County Republican Party.

Actually, Labor Day arrived early for at least one Republican this week. Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) and his wife, Rebecca, celebrated the birth of their third child Wednesday.

The deadline to register to vote for the Nov. 3 election is 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5. For those registering by mail, the registration affidavit must be received by the registrar’s office by that date. Absentee ballots are available beginning Oct. 5.