Marti Schrank

When you're the minority party--and Democrats in Orange County are--you've got to be prepared to work hard, take the hits and, most of all, hold fast to your ideals. Like Marti Schrank does. This year Schrank attended not only the Democratic National Convention but the Republican one as well. That was she driving around the San Diego Convention Center with her Clinton/Gore signs and marching wearing a cigarette-butt hat.

When you're the minority party--and Democrats in Orange County are--you've got to be prepared to work hard, take the hits and, most of all, hold fast to your ideals. Like Marti Schrank does. This year Schrank attended not only the Democratic National Convention but the Republican one as well. That was she driving around the San Diego Convention Center with her Clinton/Gore signs and marching wearing a cigarette-butt hat.

It looks as if Bill Clinton's campaign caravan won't be stopping at the Orange County Fair this Sunday after all. The Democratic presidential nominee's tentative plans to drop by the fair during a California tour were dropped due to a tight schedule Sunday that will include a stop at a picnic in Ontario. He then moves on to San Diego for a speech Monday before the National Urban League, area campaign workers said Friday.

A Latino civil rights group charged Thursday that large numbers of voters, including many new citizens, were intimidated or turned away from the polls on election day. Vera Marquez, state president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said her office received dozens of calls from people who said they had registered to vote but were turned away at the polls because their names didn't appear on the list of registered voters. "They were scared.

The new leader of Orange County's Democratic Party says he is hopeful that Democrats can focus on a new, successful strategy in a county dominated by Republicans. "We have been our own worst enemies," said Jim Toledano, who won election as chairman Monday night. "We have not carried out the weight of responsibility that more than 400,000 registered Democrats deserve."

Democratic activists Monday night unanimously elected John Hanna, 35, a lawyer and party strategist, to be the new chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party. Hanna, a Democratic activist since high school, will serve a two-year term, replacing Bruce Sumner, a retired judge, former state assemblyman and now Democratic nominee for the 40th Congressional District.

An Anaheim Hills fund-raiser with President Clinton has been canceled after Rep. Loretta Sanchez declined to change the Sunday event she is hosting from a sit-down dinner to a reception. Sarah Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Garden Grove Democrat, said the congresswoman wanted guests who would have attended the event at the private home of a Republican backer to experience "a nice, intimate evening with the president." But Clinton's schedule changed, leaving him with less time.

Promising to "energize" Orange County Democrats, Michael Balmages was chosen Monday night as the party's new county chairman. Balmages, 42, is politically well-connected with state party officials and leaders, including Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, whose gubernatorial campaigns Balmages managed in Orange County.

If you were ever drafted, the scene might have reminded you of that glorious day when you were finally discharged from military service. As you walked out the door to freedom, there were the guys from the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, vying to sign you up. This time, the people walking out the door were immigrants sworn in as new American citizens at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Wednesday.

Former U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno showed her warmhearted side in a speech Thursday, joking about her Parkinson's disease and calling it part of her political baggage, like her decisions at Waco and in the Elian Gonzalez case. Reno, who recently announced that she will seek the Democratic nomination in the Florida governor's race, made her comments to about 250 people at a luncheon in Garden Grove sponsored by the Dayle McIntosh Center, which serves the disabled community in Orange County.