SUNDAY STORY:

As political observers across the nation zero in on immigration as a top November election issue, some Costa Mesa residents and City Council candidates are hoping local campaigns can cover more than just that topic.

To some outside observers, Costa Mesa is among a handful of cities that will be bellwethers for the rest of the nation when voters cast ballots Nov. 7.

They’re expecting many elections, including those for the two City Council seats here, to hinge on candidates’ positions on illegal immigration.

In Costa Mesa, immigration has been on the table since the City Council voted, 3-2, in December to train police for immigration enforcement.

Residents and the council are divided on the issue. The two council members on the losing side of the vote, Linda Dixon and Katrina Foley, are backing a slate of two candidates challenging Mayor Allan Mansoor and his running mate, Wendy Leece. The two other council members, Gary Monahan and Eric Bever, supported the immigration plan and have backed Mansoor.

Other cities around the country have followed Costa Mesa’s lead with various measures. For example, in Phoenix a November ballot measure would require city police to be cross-trained for immigration enforcement.

The City Council in Hazleton, Pa., in July voted to penalize landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and employers who hire them. A similar measure in San Bernardino failed to qualify for the ballot.

Two Costa Mesa council candidates — Leece and Mirna Burciaga — when asked in July said they would not support a plan like Hazleton’s here, but others wouldn’t directly answer the question.

But the immigration issue seems to have dug a trench through a number of cities, leaving people standing on either side.

Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, whose district includes Newport Beach and a small part of Costa Mesa, expects immigration to be a major factor in the election.

He said he recently called GOP voters to ask them about a number of issues and which are most important.

“Every single person I spoke to said illegal immigration,” he said. He added that though it wasn’t a scientific survey, “clearly it’s on people’s minds.”

In past elections nationwide, immigration has ranked near the bottom in top-10-issue lists, but now it’s near the top pretty much everywhere, said John Keeley, spokesman for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that supports enforcement of immigration laws and opposes guest worker programs.

Keeley pointed to a spring election in Herndon, Va., where members of the town council who supported funding a day labor center were booted from office. He expects more of that in November.

“It looks like this will be the first [major] election where candidates will be fired or elected based on their position on immigration,” Keeley said.

But to some Costa Mesa residents, illegal immigration shouldn’t be the dividing line in the council election.

“It’s definitely important, but I can’t say it’s the main issue,” said Patty Earnest, who has lived in Costa Mesa since 1961.

As a former teacher, she said, she’ll always rank education a top issue, and she and her neighbors are also concerned about safety.

“They’re afraid of break-ins in their houses. They’re afraid of having their cars stolen. They’re afraid,” she said. “But I’m not sure I can say that’s caused by illegal immigrants.”

Mike Brumbaugh, a technical writer who lives in Costa Mesa’s Halecrest neighborhood, said it’s troubling that the campaign has become all about immigration.

“I’ve gotten so frustrated with people only caring whose side I’m on,” he said. “Most of the people that I live with [in the neighborhood] share the same concern: We need a safe place to live.”

Some council candidates agreed that picking a side on illegal immigration isn’t enough to improve the city.

“I only hope that this is not a one-issue election because a lot of how this is going to play out is out of our hands,” said Bruce Garlich, who is running with Mike Scheafer on the slate opposing the mayor.

Costa Mesa hasn’t proceeded with its immigration enforcement plan because the city is waiting for federal officials to approve a similar plan by the Orange County sheriff. No one knows when that will happen, or how a federal immigration reform bill might affect cities, Garlich said.

Even Mansoor, who got national publicity as both hero and villain when he spearheaded the city’s immigration plan, said illegal immigration is not the only issue in his campaign.

“Certainly it’s an important issue, but public safety, quality of life, revitalizing certain neighborhoods and solving traffic issues are also important,” he said.

Although Costa Mesa residents may base their votes for council candidates on a spectrum of issues, professional politicians will likely take the election’s outcome as a measure of voters’ will on immigration.

“Our country’s reached a threshold where patriotic Americans are stepping up all over the place to do the job that their federal government isn’t taking care of,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, whose district includes Costa Mesa. Rohrabacher has endorsed Mansoor and Leece.

The election results in cities like Costa Mesa will be telling, he said.

“Every officeholder’s going to be looking at it saying, ‘Look what happened in these cities,’ ” Rohrabacher said.