ELECTIONS ’88 ORANGE COUNTY : County GOP Raises Registration Edge to Nearly 240,000 Voters

County Republicans boosted their voter-registration edge over Democrats to nearly 240,000 in drives that ended on Oct. 11--29 days before the Nov. 8 election, according to unofficial, final figures released Monday by the county registrar of voters.

“Countywide, the Republicans did a good job,” county Democratic Party chairman John Hanna said Monday. “They’re to be congratulated for that.”

But Democrats also had their successes, boosting registration leads in the 72nd Assembly District and the 38th Congressional District--the only districts in the county where Democrats traditionally outnumber Republicans.

While Republicans fell short of their goal of a countywide 250,000-voter margin, the gap of 239,704 is the largest ever.

“It bodes very well for Orange County singing ‘Good night, Michael,’ to Mr. Dukakis,” county GOP chairman Thomas A. Fuentes said, referring to the Democratic presidential nominee. “The registration figure is probably the most meaningful poll of where the hearts and minds of Orange Countians are, with respect to the (presidential) election.”

Final figures, which will probably be adjusted slightly in the next few days, showed Republicans ending their countywide registration drive for the November election with a 54.97% to 34.70% edge over Democrats. In January, the Republicans held a lead of just under 200,000 and an edge of 54.5% to 35.3%.

In raw numbers, this week’s figures showed 650,348 of the county’s 1,183,116 registered voters as Republicans and 410,644 as Democrats. The rest were registered as members of third parties or declined to state a party preference.

As in previous presidential election years, both Republicans and Democrats mounted major registration drives. But faced with limited resources, Democrats concentrated their registration efforts on the 72nd Assembly and 38th Congressional districts.

Two years ago, Democrats were chagrined to lose the 72nd District seat--which Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove) vacated to run for Congress in the 38th District--to Richard E. Longshore (R-Santa Ana). Robinson lost the congressional race to Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

The Democrats hope to win the seat back Nov. 8 through the candidacy of Riverside County prosecutor Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach, 38, of Anaheim, a member of the Anaheim Union High School District Board of Trustees.

Longshore died the day after winning the June GOP primary in the 72nd District, and Republican leaders chose Curt Pringle, 29, a Garden Grove planning commissioner and a drapery merchant, to run in his stead.

To boost Thierbach’s chances, Democrats succeeded in widening the voter-registration gap in the 72nd District, ending up with an edge of 53.47% to 37.74% over the Republicans.

In raw figures, the gap now favors Democrats by more than 18,000 registered voters: 62,015 Democrats to 43,762 Republicans.

“That’s a big boost for Rick Thierbach coming into the November election,” Hanna said.

He said the registration margin there is the highest it has been in 10 years.

As for the 38th Congressional District, Democrats ended up with 49.1%, or 101,834, of the total 207,314 registered voters, while Republicans have 86,453. That should help Democrat Jerry Yudelson, who is fighting an uphill battle against Dornan.

Democratic activist Howard Adler of Laguna Hills added that, while Democrats would like for the countywide numbers to be more favorable to them, at least Republicans did not reach their goal of a 250,000 gap in registration. He also expressed satisfaction that Democratic registration has topped 400,000.

“That’s still a lot of Democrats, more than we’ve ever had,” Adler said. “I just wish we had some more. Now we’ve just got to get them to vote for Dukakis.”