ELECTIONS ’88 : Cox and Rohrabacher Lead a GOP Congressional Sweep

Republicans were sweeping Orange County’s five congressional races in early returns Tuesday, with two new faces--former White House staffers Dana Rohrabacher and C. Christopher Cox--headed for Washington and Rep. Robert K. Dornan far ahead of Democrat Jerry Yudelson.

Incumbents William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) and Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) also held wide leads over their opponents in the early count.

Two years ago, Dornan of Garden Grove led a Republican sweep in the county by turning back a $1-million-plus challenge by then-Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove) in the 38th Congressional District.

This year, Yudelson spent only about $200,000. But Democrats had built a strong voter-registration lead over Republicans in Dornan’s district--50% to 41%--and hoped to make it a close race.

“We went out and told the story of why we felt Dornan was vulnerable,” Yudelson said Tuesday night. “At least I was able to convince a large number of people that I was a good candidate.”

In his campaign, Yudelson hammered away at the two-term incumbent with allegations that he had failed to fight for cost-of-living pay increases for Social Security recipients and misled voters with claims that he had given his congressional pay raise to hospices for acquired immune deficiency syndrome victims.

Dornan mailed out slick, colorful brochures featuring President Reagan and a photo of himself at a refugee camp in Honduras but spent most of the campaign season stumping for Vice President George Bush’s presidential bid.

Dornan said Tuesday night that he received a phone call from Bush after the vice president had been declared the winner in the presidential race. He quoted Bush as saying: “Nobody in this country, nobody, has done more for me than you have.” Dornan said the phone call left him “frozen and in a state of shock.”

In the 40th and 42nd Congressional Districts, voters were sending newcomers to Congress. By virtue of heavy Republican registration, GOP candidates Rohrabacher and Cox were virtually assured of fall victories after defeating rivals in bitter, costly Republican primaries in June.

Attending a GOP bash at the Doubletree Hotel in Orange, Rohrabacher wore a “Congressman Rohrabacher” name tag. “The liberals are going to keep losing and losing and losing until they get the message,” he said.

In the 42nd District, Rohrabacher will replace Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach), whose nomination to fill the post of state treasurer was blocked by the state Senate earlier this year.

The Democratic candidate in the 42nd District, Guy C. Kimbrough of Huntington Beach, attacked Rohrabacher’s opposition to tax increases and bans on offshore oil drilling.

In the 40th District, where fired White House aide Oliver North attended campaign rallies to help raise money for Cox, the Democratic candidate, Laguna Beach Councilwoman Lida Lenney, had been given virtually no chance of winning. North also appeared at fund-raisers for Rohrabacher and Dornan.

“The message is loud and clear that the policies of Ronald Reagan should and will be continued,” Cox said at the Doubletree. “I can’t tell you how proud I am to get to go to the House of Representatives.”

Cox will replace Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach), who is retiring after 12 years in Congress.

Lenney, who founded the Laguna Canyon Conservancy last year, had little money to run a campaign against Cox. She attacked Republicans generally on the issues of peace and the environment and said the male-dominated Congress fails to understand the condition of U.S. women.

In the 39th District, Democrat Bea Foster of North Tustin entered the race against incumbent Dannemeyer as a write-in candidate because the only other Democrat who filed candidacy papers--Don E. Marquis of Woodland Hills--is a follower of political extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr.

Dannemeyer was one of the primary sponsors of Proposition 102, the statewide ballot measure to require mandatory reporting of positive AIDS tests.

In the 43rd District, however, Democrat Howard Greenebaum of Leucadia waged a vigorous effort despite impossible odds. Packard, a former Carlsbad mayor who in 1982 became just the fourth House member to be elected as a write-in candidate, campaigned on his reputation of service to constituents. Greenebaum faulted Packard for accepting nearly $300,000 in contributions from political action committees.

Times staff writers Jean Davidson, Eric Lichtblau and David Reyes contributed to this article.