McCain takes his turn in Newport Beach

For Orange County political players, Tuesday meant another day, another photo op and another 2008 presidential candidate looking for a financial boost. This time it was Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain, who appeared at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach.

McCain is the latest candidate to pass through with his hands out. Republican hopefuls Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani held Orange County events in March.

On the Democratic side, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton was in Laguna Beach in March, and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama raised money at a breakfast Monday in Newport Coast. Fellow nomination seeker John Edwards will be in Irvine at the end of the month, the same week President Bill Clinton will appear in Newport Coast.

McCain’s campaign didn’t allow reporters at the Tuesday night reception, but the senator reportedly has support from big local names including Irvine Co. chairman Don Bren and George Argyros, a former U.S. ambassador to Spain.

Also backing McCain for the 2008 GOP nomination is Costa Mesa Assemblyman Van Tran. He said he’s behind the Arizona senator because of his long experience with foreign policy and military issues.

“Those two issues will be key in the 2008 election, in light of our country’s engagement in the Middle East, in Iraq and in Afghanistan,” Tran said.

A Rasmussen poll of likely GOP voters, released Tuesday, showed McCain tied with Romney at 11% of the vote; they trailed Giuliani and unofficial candidate Fred Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, both of whom tied with 24%.

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll the same day showed similar results, with Giuliani ahead, followed by Thompson, McCain and Romney, in that order.

McCain has largely stuck by President Bush on his handling of the Iraq war, which has become increasingly unpopular with voters. But some observers, troubleshooting McCain’s candidacy, said it’s not the war that may hurt McCain with Orange County voters — it’s his stance on immigration reform.

“I think everybody respects him” for his stance on the war, said Newport beach businessman Buck Johns, who hasn’t picked a candidate yet but has maxed out donations to Giuliani, Romney and Huckabee. But on immigration, Johns said, “I think Orange County is ardently in opposition to the position that he has taken.”

McCain co-wrote the senate immigration reform bill that’s now being debated but faces strong opposition from some in the GOP. Huntington Beach Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, an opponent of any path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, said McCain’s involvement in the bill “has pretty much destroyed his credibility and made him an enemy of most of the activists in the party.”

McCain is seen by some as standing for conservative principles, as confused as Republicans may be about what those mean, UC Irvine political science professor Mark Petracca said. But for some GOP voters, it’s not solely about who best represents the party ideology.

Former Costa Mesa Mayor Peter Buffa donated money to McCain early on but is now solidly behind Giuliani. He said it wasn’t a tough choice.

“The only chance any Republican candidate has in the general election is going to be to draw support from both Republican and Democratic voters, and no one is better positioned to do that than Rudy Giuliani,” Buffa said.