Unseating a congressional incumbent is a difficult task. Unseating an incumbent backed by the county's core conservative power brokers is an even more daunting challenge, one that two candidates have taken on in the March 26 Republican primary for the 46th District.
While Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) has spent most of his time in what political observers consider a purely rhetorical run for the White House, his challengers have been talking about crime in the streets of Santa Ana and the steady influx of illegal immigrants into the county and state.
"He was apparently concerned about the safety of the people in Bosnia, but has he been in Santa Ana? Has he driven around at night?" asked challenger Felix Rocha Jr., 50, an Orange County Department of Education board member who quit his job as an undercover agent for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to run for Dornan's seat. Rocha is also running for reelection to the county school board, but said he is soliciting no funds for that race.
"It's unconscionable that Dornan takes off and goes to Bosnia to see if the Bosnians are safe at night. The crime and violence that affects the daily lives of the people in the 46th District is alarming."
The 63-year-old congressman traveled to Bosnia last month with House Speaker Newt Gingrich after three previous attempts were blocked by the U.S. State Department. But he was back in town Friday to hold a congressional subcommittee hearing in Santa Ana City Council Chambers on illegal immigration and border security.
Dornan could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon, but chief of staff Paul Mero said the challengers are making a fundamental mistake about the role of a federal lawmaker.
"What many of his opponents don't seem to understand is that a congressman's business is federal," Mero said. "He goes to work in Washington, D.C. Many of the issues that his opponents are talking about are local issues. They are issues that the local City Council, the school board or the state government needs to address."
Dornan's focus on presidential politics also has drawn fire from Republican challenger Katherine H. Smith, who said his constituents feel ignored.
"The people of this district are irate over this," Smith said. "He's just staying in [the presidential primary] to get federal matching funds that come from the pockets of the hard-working residents of this county."
Dornan is "two states shy" of qualifying for federal matching funds, according to Mero.
"This does not come out of taxpayers' pockets," he said. "It's a voluntary checkoff [on income tax forms]. If you don't want your money to go to that, then it doesn't."
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In this central Orange County congressional district, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 6% margin, conservative leaders say they owe Dornan their loyalty for unseating five-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Jerry Patterson in 1984.
That election was a political comeback for the former talk-show host, who had served from 1976 to 1982 as a Santa Monica-area congressman. After an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate, Dornan was recruited by GOP leaders for the contest and subsequently moved to Orange County.
"Bob came in a long time ago and won this seat when this was a hotly contested race with the Democrats," said Buck Johns, one of the county's most influential Republican fund-raisers. "Those of us in the Republican Party are very appreciative of that, and we've got long memories."
But Smith argues that the rank-and-file voters she encounters during her doorbell-ringing excursions around the district are fed up with politics as usual.
"People want change; they're crying for change and the party is not responding," Smith said. "I am a fourth-generation Republican. I worked for Barry Goldwater in 1963 and 1964. The reason I am doing this is because there has been no one for me to vote for in this district."
And Smith is doing it mostly with her own money. She says she's willing to spend up to $100,000 on her campaign, which is headquartered in her west Anaheim home. Smith's latest campaign finance statement shows that she has raised $52,950 and spent $36,709 so far.
Rocha's campaign headquarters is outside his Fountain Valley home, in the garage. He's raised less than $5,000, the minimum amount required for filing campaign finance reports.
"I realize that my chances are slim and none," Rocha said, "but I'm an everyday type of person. When I see something that isn't right, I want to try and fix it."
Dornan reported $22,106 cash on hand for the period ending Jan. 1.
"He hasn't done any congressional fund-raising so far because he was focused on the presidential race," Mero said, noting that Dornan remains in the California presidential primary, also on March 26.
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