Strategies from now to November

A record turn-out translated into big wins for Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton Tuesday night, with both candidates winning the state by significant margins.

As California’s delegates will be divided proportionally among the candidates, however, the national race remains wide open.

For the time being, vocal McCain supporter and Assemblyman Van Tran said he couldn’t be happier with the evening’s outcome.

“Sen. McCain won convincingly,” he said. “I’m feeling really good.”

Tran said McCain’s next step should focus on courting the conservative wing of the Republican Party and closing the split he sees developing between his campaign and the faction.

“He’s already begun to reach out, to listen and incorporate some of the issues and concerns that the conservative wing of the party has, such as immigration,” he said.

One such member of that wing, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, said he was saddened by the outcome, but respected the decision of California voters.

“I endorsed Romney about a week ago, and I specifically endorsed him because I did not want McCain to win the California primary,” he said. “Obviously, it didn’t work, and now he has a great edge to become the nominee.”

Rohrabacher added the only time McCain had reached out to conservatives was “to punch them in the jaw.”

“If he was sincere, he would come out with a tremendous effort to reconcile with conservative Republicans,” he said. “However, most of us don’t believe that his goal is to have the party of Ronald Reagan back together again.”

Fellow Romney thumper Rep. John Campbell said he was surprised by the popularity of Mike Huckabee, whose national wins managed to keep him in the running.

Romney speculated the strategy of Romney and Huckabee may focus on preventing McCain from collecting the majority of delegates prior to the convention.

“I don’t think anyone can count to (1,191) at this point, with the states that are remaining,” he said. “With this three-way split here, Romney would have to hope that we enter the convention without a clear winner.”

Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Frank Barbaro, while declining to endorse a particular candidate, offered his advice for the two party front runners.

“I think that the key to the Obama campaign is getting more and more of the ‘decline-to-state’ and young voters to vote for him, as they tend to go more for Barack than Hillary,” he said. “Hillary just needs to continue to do what she has been doing: Secure her base, secure the leadership of the Democratic Party.”

“It’s been a hell of a night, and I’m very excited about the future,” he said. “I think we can pull this out and change the course of our country.”

CALIFORNIA PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY RESULTS

Democrats (74% precincts reporting)

Republicans (74% precincts reporting)

CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at [email protected].