GOP Faithful Energized by Bush O.C. Visit

ANAHEIM — President Bush’s second foray in six weeks into the pivotal presidential battleground of Orange County prompted a bout of optimism among local Republican Party leaders about the President’s prospects both in the GOP stronghold and the state.

A 2-week-old poll shows Bush in a dead heat with Democratic challenger Bill Clinton in Orange County, where a big GOP vote is considered the key to Republican success in California. But after the President was greeted warmly by a sun-scorched crowd of about 3,000 in Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim, Orange County officials suggested that the event will launch Bush toward victory in November.

“I think this was a good way to turn things around,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach). “The President obviously is not writing off California, and what better place to begin the comeback than Orange County. It’ll be tough, we’re behind, but it’s doable.”

Although Bush carried Orange County 68% to 31% in the 1988 presidential race, a poll released Sept. 5 showed Clinton favored by 41% of the county’s voters, compared to 40% for Bush, a statistically irrelevant difference. An earlier poll of Orange County voters--taken by The Times right after the GOP convention ended Aug. 20--found Bush with a seven-point lead, 49% to 42%.

Either result is bad news for the President.

In both, Bush’s support was far short of the Republican Party’s 20-point lead over Democrats (54% to 34%) among registered voters in Orange County, and nowhere near the electoral landslide that the President will need in the county to offset huge Democratic pluralities in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area.

Such poor poll results in one of the nation’s most Republican of counties prompted many political pundits, a few top GOP officials and even former President Richard M. Nixon to all but concede California to save valuable campaign resources.

But there was none of that talk Sunday after Bush followed former President Ronald Reagan and a cavalcade of Southern California’s leading GOP lights onto a makeshift stage bedecked with a California flag and an assortment of political banners.

Many in the crowd surged forward or craned their necks to get a glimpse of the President among a forest of political placards. A few, however, behaved like typical Southern Californians at a sporting event: After Bush began his 15-minute address, several marched off with beach chairs and coolers in hand to beat the post-rally parking lot gridlock.

A raft of Clinton supporters also showed up for the event. A couple dozen paraded near the park entrance, some sporting placards proclaiming that Orange County is “Clinton Country.” Others booed or waved Clinton placards during speeches by Bush and others.

“The last 12 years of greed have caught up with us,” said Darrell Lynn of Tustin, a Clinton supporter. “Orange County voters speak from the pocketbook, and that’s not good for Bush. Morale is low even among people who are employed. They wonder who’s next.”

Such grumblings hardly spoiled the mood of most at the rally.

“Wasn’t that a great day!” roared Buck Johns, an Orange County developer and a leader of the well-heeled Lincoln Club. “We’ll see the momentum begin to build now. The bumper stickers will come out. The volunteers will get excited. It’s like Vince Lombardi getting up there.”

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) said the throng at the rally was “as excited a crowd as I’ve seen in Orange County. . . . The question is no longer who is ahead in Orange County, but by how much. This is solid evidence that the Republican rank and file is going to get out there and work hard” to elect Bush.

Cox said Orange County voters will soon grow wary of Clinton’s proposals and personality. The Arkansas governor’s economic plans amount to an “unabashed call for extraordinary high levels of taxing and spending” and his health care solutions are “border-line socialist,” he said.

“Clinton is a little-known governor of a small state,” Cox said. “Much if not all of our task over the next few weeks will be to flesh out for the American people just who Bill Clinton is.”

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), who served as master of ceremonies during the rally and sharply criticized Clinton on several occasions, was also bullish on the President’s performance. But he said Bush, who last visited Orange County in late July, will need to return a couple more times to drum up the votes he’ll need to take California.

Others talked cautiously about Bush’s chances.

“I still don’t detect the degree of enthusiasm needed to get a wide margin of victory in Orange County, but I definitely think we’re on the right track to close fast in the next six weeks,” said Brian Bennett, a delegate to last month’s GOP convention in Houston and Dornan’s former chief of staff. “It won’t be easy. For Bush to win, I think it’s going to take a maximum effort unlike any we’ve seen in recent presidential politics.”