Challenger Plans Tough Battle for State

Only weeks ago, political pundits predicted that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole would cede California in November to President Clinton, who has aggressively courted the Golden State since his election four years ago.

But Dole’s visit Wednesday here as part of a California campaign swing showed that the former Senate majority leader does not plan to give up the state’s 54 electoral college votes so easily--and is targeting key GOP-friendly areas like the San Fernando Valley, which Clinton drew into his column in 1992.

“We’re going to win this state,” Dole told a cheering rally of Republican faithful who gathered under relentless sunshine at the Trillium Plaza in Warner Center. “I’m going to do everything I can to win the state of California.”

In that quest, the Valley will be a crucial battleground for the Republican to woo GOP voters away from Clinton, observers say.

“If he doesn’t, he can’t carry California,” GOP political analyst Allan Hoffenblum said. “That’s where the swing is. Don’t go talk to your base vote. You gotta talk to the people who are the ticket-splitters, the persuadables.”

Hence Wednesday’s “Valley Day,” as Dole’s top California strategist, Kenneth L. Khachigian, dubbed it. From an address to workers at a cutting-edge computer company, to lunch at a popular deli, to the GOP rally at Warner Center, Dole used his first-ever Valley visit to reach out to traditionally conservative voters who surprised political watchers four years ago by supporting Clinton over incumbent President George Bush.

Clinton has since assiduously cultivated his relationship with California, including the Valley, the scene of five presidential visits since his inauguration--two just this year. He remains a popular figure for his help in the region’s recovery from the Northridge earthquake.

Khachigian, a veteran California political hand, acknowledged that Dole has his work cut out for him, but said he would campaign vigorously here until the general election, unlike Bush, who conceded the state to Clinton as early as September.

“This is part of the Republican base in California. The San Fernando Valley is very important. It’ll help provide the margin of victory for us,” Khachigian said. “So we’ll be back.”

State Republican Party Chairman John Herrington said in an interview that Dole could be back in the Valley as soon as mid-July.

On Wednesday, the former Senate leader tried to tailor his message to his audience, hammering on two themes--immigration and education--of perennial appeal to Valley voters.

Flanked by Gov. Pete Wilson and Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) at El Camino Resources Ltd., a Woodland Hills computer-leasing firm, Dole told company employees that children of illegal immigrants are costing the state’s public education system nearly $2 billion a year.

“It’s one of the most expensive mandates of all time,” Dole said, “and you’re picking up the tab.”

He pledged his support for a proposal by Gallegly that would give states the option of denying public education to such children, and also his support for Proposition 187, the 1994 California ballot initiative to restrict social services to illegal immigrants. The controversial measure--born in the Valley, which approved it by a wide margin--was passed statewide but has remained blocked in the courts.

Khachigian said Dole would continue “to take it to” Clinton over immigration at every opportunity in California, despite some signs that the issue does not have the same resonance as it did two years ago.

“It’s not a dead issue,” Khachigian said. “It’s alive and kicking.”

But not everyone at El Camino Resources thought so--at least to the same degree--indicating the hard sell that Dole faces against Clinton, who beat Bush even in such traditionally conservative bastions as Northridge and Glendale.

“He only addressed one issue [immigration], and that wasn’t enough for me to make such an important decision” as to whom to vote for, said Hayley Klein, a product analyst.

Although the 28-year-old Studio City resident broadly agreed with Dole on immigration, “there are other issues that are more important to me,” like abortion rights, said Klein, a registered Democrat willing to consider both Dole and Clinton.

Dole’s remarks on immigration also weren’t enough to sway Laura Malinowski, 30, a paralegal at the company. A Republican, Malinowski nonetheless voted for Clinton in 1992, hoping for change. So far, she rates the president’s performance as fair.

“He didn’t come through on everything, but who does?” said Malinowski, adding that she has yet to make up her mind between incumbent and challenger.

“That wouldn’t even be a major consideration,” Mike Leger, 37, another undecided Democrat, said of Dole’s immigration stance. “I want to listen to the whole platform.”