Survival Instinct Pushes 4 in GOP to the Middle

It was a classic case of that was then, this is now--Washington style.

As the cameras zoomed in on Bill Clinton at a recent White House rally touting gun-control legislation, Brian P. Bilbray, a Republican congressman from San Diego, stood conspicuously alongside the president he had voted to impeach.

What’s more, Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale), a national hero of conservatives and the No. 1 target of Democrats for his role as an impeachment prosecutor, also was at the ceremony.

In an election year--especially one in which control of the House is up for grabs--the improbable becomes political necessity. Thus, four California Republican congressmen--Bilbray, Rogan, Steve Kuykendall of Torrance and Steve Horn of Long Beach--are working hard in their moderate, swing districts to distance themselves from the partisanship of post-impeachment Washington.

All are fighting for survival in contests deemed not only among the state’s tightest matchups, but also races crucial to determining whether the GOP retains its slim House majority next year. And with California Republicans still licking wounds from their shellacking in the 1998 election, none of the four incumbents is hesitating to break with their party and embrace positions that align them with Clinton.

Forget that all of them voted to oust him from office.

“They have figured out that what they need to do is to run very hard and very fast toward the center,” said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe.

Amy Walter, House editor of the Cook Political Report, a Washington political newsletter, said: “California is just not the kind of place where the national Republican rhetoric sells.”

Bilbray, who’s never had an easy time in a San Diego district full of independent voters, goes so far as to omit from campaign mailers and TV ads any mention of his party affiliation--although he is receiving financial support from the GOP establishment. Two years ago, he pleaded with party leaders to stop running ads on his behalf because they called him the Republican candidate. He calls himself an “independent voice for change” in his current mailers.

“We never mention Brian’s party registration because it just doesn’t help us,” said a Bilbray aide.

“I don’t mention mine very often either,” said Kuykendall, a freshman up against former three-term Democratic Rep. Jane Harman, who gave up the seat in 1998 for an unsuccessful gubernatorial run.

“I’m a Republican,” Kuykendall added. “And yet, I view myself as one who is pragmatic and independent thinking . . . [who] tries to achieve something without thinking that I’ve got to make a partisan victory out of it.”

All four of the Republicans backed gun-control measures opposed by the GOP majority to expand background checks at gun shows and require trigger locks with new handgun sales. Kuykendall and Horn recently were among eight House Republicans to oppose a measure to ban a procedure critics call “partial birth” abortions. And Horn has championed funding for the arts, a favorite target of GOP leaders.

Rogan is, by far, the most conservative of the four. But he, too, talks up his ability to work across party lines, citing his work with Democrats in pushing a bill to provide copyright protection to Internet domain names.

Still, all four voted with the GOP majority last year more often than not--including supporting the $792-billion GOP tax cut that Clinton vetoed. According to a tally of key votes by Congressional Quarterly, Horn broke from the party in 1999 more than any Republican west of the Mississippi River except Rep. Tom Campbell (R-San Jose), but still voted with the GOP majority 68% of the time. Bilbray voted with the GOP majority 72% of the time, Kuykendall 76%, and Rogan 92%. The House GOP average was 86%.

The four Republicans have been targeted by Democrats because of their narrow margins of victory in the past and the voting histories of their districts. Each represents a district won by Clinton in 1992 and 1996 and by Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and Sen. Barbara Boxer in 1998.

Independent political analysts rate the Rogan and Kuykendall races as among the few tossups among the House’s 435 seats. Bilbray is given an edge in his race, but only a slight one. Horn is viewed as the likeliest winner among the four, but with Democrats holding a 20% registration advantage in his district his political fortunes are always uncertain.

In all four races, the Democratic strategy is simple: paint the Republicans as too extreme for their moderate districts.

Los Angeles-based Democratic strategist Bill Carrick, who is assisting the party’s Congressional Campaign Committee, said, “These guys desperately are trying to muddle up their image, and appearing with Bill Clinton suggests to voters that they are more moderate” than their voting records.

Added Dan Schnur, a Republican strategist: “California is the most independent state in the country, and it’s trending even more independent. . . . Candidates of either party that align themselves with their party’s Washington leadership almost inevitably run into problems.”

In San Diego’s 49th District, Bilbray has played up his support for the environment--appearing on Capitol Hill with his surfboard to call attention to a bill he is sponsoring to protect coastal waters. He also touts his 75% rating last year from the League of Conservation Voters--higher than any other California Republican’s.

“I’ve had two major pieces of legislation signed into law by the president, who is a Democrat,” he boasted. One preserved 18,500 acres of Otay Mountain along the Mexican border in San Diego County as protected wilderness; the other required that commuter vehicles crossing into the United States from Mexico meet the state’s air pollution standards.

His Democratic opponent, Assemblywoman Susan Davis, contends Bilbray has an inconsistent record. “He tries to say that he’s much more interested in bipartisan approaches, but the reality is, that’s not the way he votes,” she said.

Bilbray has pushed some conservatives causes, such as denying citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, banning “partial birth” abortions and allowing voluntary prayer in schools.

In Los Angeles County’s 36th District, which hugs the Pacific Ocean from Venice to San Pedro, Kuykendall has touted his support for abortion rights, the environment and gun control.

But Harman’s political consultant, Roy Behr, insisted that Kuykendall’s record remains a poor fit for the district. As an example, Behr cited the incumbent’s support for the GOP tax cut to “give huge tax cuts to people who don’t need them instead of using the money to pay down the federal debt or shore up Social Security and Medicare or invest in the future.”

In the 27th District, encompassing Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, Rogan’s appearance at the White House gun control rally was galling to his Democratic foe, state Sen. Adam Schiff, who has attacked Rogan for receiving the National Rifle Assn.’s “Defender of Freedom” award in 1996. “I’m not surprised to find him there, given that he’s doing his best to run away from his record,” said Schiff, who is endorsed by Handgun Control Inc.

Rogan has received financial support from the NRA. “But I’ve also gotten screamed at by the NRA” for supporting some gun control measures, he said.

In the Long Beach-based 38th District, Horn’s Democrat opponent, Gerrie Schipske, contends that the incumbent hasn’t been aggressive enough in addressing such issues as education and jobs.

Schipske also said, “There was great disappointment in his voting for the impeachment. . . . He chose to go with the [GOP] leadership on that”

But Horn’s son and campaign manager, Steve Horn Jr., said his father will benefit from his overall record of bipartisanship. The younger Horn noted that his father kept on his staff aides who had worked for his Democratic predecessor.

He added, “You’re going to have a hard time portraying Steve Horn as either an extremist or out of step with the district.”