Even without most of their candidates on the ballot, 1993 promises to be an important year in Orange County politics as Democrats and Republicans begin a struggle for power that was triggered by last November's election.
At stake is whether Orange County will continue to be the engine that drives California's Republican candidates to victory, or whether it will become a competitive battleground where Democrats are more than symbolic place holders on the ballot.
"We've got lots of work to do in 1993," said Buck Johns, a Newport Beach developer and a prominent Republican Party activist. "There was a singleness of purpose the Democrats had (in 1992), that was to get back in power. . . . We had some fractionalization in 1992, so now I think we're going to see a much greater sense of purpose."
Howard Adler, the county's Democratic chairman, said that his party also has a lot of work to do. He predicted that Democrats will spend more money and conduct more campaign activities in 1993 than in any non-election season since he became a local activist more than 30 years ago.
"I think people really saw us build something in 1992," Adler said, noting in particular the strong local election returns for President-elect Bill Clinton and Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. "Democrats now believe they have a party."
Republicans still enjoy a 20% edge over Democrats among registered voters in Orange County, the largest GOP margin in California. And Orange County's Republican reputation that dates back for decades is not expected to change.
Instead, the measure of a power shift in Orange County will be determined by the ability of Democrats to represent a viable opposition as well as to win the seats where their voters constitute a majority.
Even that modest goal has appeared out of reach to Democrats since Ronald Reagan's election as President in 1980. Republicans have held almost all of Orange County's 17 legislative and congressional seats for much of the 12 years. And several statewide GOP candidates have carried Orange County by a margin of more than 2-to-1.
But some Democratic leaders in Orange County can remember when they used to cause a lot of problems for California's Republican stronghold.
In 1978--for one brief election--Democratic registered voters in Orange County actually outnumbered Republicans. In 1976, Democrats held a majority of the county's 13 legislative and congressional seats. And to everyone's surprise, liberal Democrat Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. actually carried Orange County in the governor's race in 1978.
