Local left looks on bright side of big loss

Alicia Robinson

Despite local Democrats’ across-the-board losses in state and federal

elections Nov. 2, they’ve found some success on which to build.

Unprecedented numbers of voters participated in the election, and

Democrats here were better organized than ever. They intend to

maintain that momentum, even if they don’t all agree on which

direction to go in.

“For the first time ever, we developed a precinct organization in

Orange County that is going to continue,” Orange County Democratic

Party Chairman Frank Barbaro said. “We made inroads in registration

in the past six months [in Newport-Mesa], and we intend to continue

to mine that.”

Barbaro was pleased that Democrats held their majority in the

state legislature, but some in his party are still licking their

wounds from the presidential loss and trying to regroup.

“As Democrats here in Newport Beach, we had really gotten the vote

out. We worked really hard,” said Natasha Palmaer, a Democratic

activist who lives in Corona del Mar. “What I do think right now is

that we’re all laying low.”

She still thinks local activism is the key to changing politics at

all levels. To prove it, she and other Democrats will continue a

website, https://www.newportdemocrats.com, that they started for the

November election, and in January they’ll resume meeting every other

Tuesday at Zinc Cafe to talk politics.

When they hold the next meeting, Palmaer said, “I don’t know if

we’re just going to do a group hug or think about things we can do in

the future.”

The local party will have some recruiting to do, as a number of

Democrats who ran for office are calling it quits as candidates.

“It’s always been a problem in districts where we’re not

competitive, and it’s going to be the same problem talking somebody

into [running],” said Carl Mariz, an Irvine Democrat who ran

unsuccessfully for the 70th Assembly District seat and won’t try

again.

In state races, Mariz pointed out that no Assembly or Senate seats

changed hands between Republicans and Democrats.

“That’s not really that great for democracy,” he said.

But the first obstacle Democrats may have to overcome is their

differences of opinion on where to go from here.

The party should provide more support for candidates in races

where the payoff might not be immediate, said John Graham, who has

challenged Republican Rep. Chris Cox three times but doesn’t plan to

run again.

“It’s important that they get away from this day or night approach

of lavishing millions on candidates in competitive races and

virtually zeroing out candidates that are trying to change opinions

in districts that are predominantly Republican,” Graham said.

Barbara Kohan, a Democrat who owns a flower store in Costa Mesa,

said Democrats should take a page from the Republicans’ book and

nurture the party’s base instead of trying to be all-inclusive.

At the local level, she said, “I think they’ve all done a really

bad job of focusing on what we believe in and giving people a clear

choice.”

Not everyone has high hopes for Democratic wins in 2006, but

Palmaer said Newport Democrats are hoping to change their

congressman, and Barbaro is focusing on ousting Republican Rep. Dana

Rohrabacher, who represents Costa Mesa.

Even though he won’t be in the ring, Graham said he’ll continue to

fight for issues he raised in his campaign, including the safety of a

nuclear reactor on the UC Irvine campus.

“The process doesn’t work unless incumbents are challenged and

unless incumbents are criticized,” he said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.