Democratic candidate raises hopes

When Democratic candidate Steve Young officially kicks off his

campaign for the 48th Congressional District seat today in Irvine,

he’ll probably be grinning -- and with good reason.

Wednesday night, Young, a 51-year-old Newport Beach attorney,

handily won the endorsement of state Democratic Party delegates, and

his campaign is being run by an energetic team that recently carried

an Ohio Democrat close to an upset victory in a heavily Republican

district.

But Young and the three other Democrats he’ll battle in an Oct. 4

primary face serious obstacles -- including division within their own

party -- in their quest to place a Democrat in former Rep. Chris

Cox’s seat.

Voters in the special primary will see 17 candidates on the

ballot, including 10 from the GOP, the party that’s dominated local

elections for years. If no candidate takes more than 50% of the

primary vote, the winners from each party will appear on a Dec. 6

general election ballot.

With the state party endorsement under his belt, Young is the

apparent front-runner among Democrats.

He’s a trial lawyer with the requisite showmanship, and he was

first to jump into the House race on the Democratic side. Something

about him attracted attention from the team that worked on the

campaign of Paul Hackett, a Democrat who narrowly lost an Aug. 2

special election for Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District seat. Hackett

took more than 48% of the vote in that race.

“We see this as a continuation of the momentum in Ohio and the

fact that Democrats can come into a heavily Republican district and

bring a message that resonates with people,” said Kate Bedingfield,

Young’s press secretary and one member of the five-person team from

Ohio.

“The common link I see between Paul and Steve is their adherence

to their own personal ideology, regardless of what is ‘correct’ for

the district,” she said.

Young hasn’t stuck to the issues some Democrats have claimed as

theirs. On the issues page of his slickly-produced website, the top

item is the economy. Immigration, likely to figure in this race

because of the candidacy of Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist,

comes in at No. 3, while the Iraq war is the last item at No. 6.

Other Democrats rank the war higher on their list of talking

points -- it’s what drew retired teacher Bea Foster, 67, of North

Tustin, into the race.

“I just decided to run because I didn’t see any of the Democrats

being very antiwar,” she said. “In fact, my signs are going to say,

‘End Iraq war now!’”

Foster isn’t alone in her position. John Graham, a 58-year-old UC

Irvine business professor making his fourth run for the House seat,

is using the slogan “Stop the bleeding,” a reference to the billions

of dollars being spent and the lives being lost every month in Iraq.

He’s also hoping to change the party’s stance on international trade.

The other Democratic competitor is Tom Pallow, 41, a marketing

consultant from Tustin. His main issue is a plan to restructure the

tax system so business people who create jobs and spend money to

improve businesses in the U.S. would be taxed at a lower rate, while

top income earners whose money isn’t profit from a business would pay

more.

None of the candidates has said much about defending abortion

rights, though Graham ranks it among campaign issues on his website

and says it’s a big concern for him.

Young said he prefers that unwanted pregnancies end in adoption,

but he supports the right to have an abortion.

“I have always supported choice,” he said. “I don’t personally

support abortion, but I’m not for taking that right away from people

who do.”

State Democratic party delegates preferred Young’s message to that

of the other candidates. He talked about the need to keep jobs in the

country and fund education. And he said his fundraising is going

well, though he wouldn’t disclose the numbers.

Some Democratic voters see Young as the total package -- and his

charisma may be the bow on top.

“I just think he’s got everything together to be the best

candidate and to be a winning candidate,” said Diane Valentino,

president of the Laguna Beach Democrats. “He just has impressed a

broad spectrum of people.”

He’s even hoping to bag some Republican votes. Orange County

Democratic Party Chairman Frank Barbaro believes a Democrat could do

that, provided that state Sen. John Campbell beats former

Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer in the Republican race.

“I think if Campbell ends up being the survivor ... there’s a lot

of Brewer supporters that won’t vote for him,” Barbaro said.

Young sees the general election as a three-man race among himself,

Campbell and Gilchrist, an American Independent Party candidate.

But Young may have to contend with the Democratic Party’s problems

with cohesiveness.

Barbaro said earlier this week that although the county party is

supposed to align with the state party’s endorsement, getting local

Democrats to act together is “like herding grasshoppers.”

Graham said his goal is to get all the candidates talking about

issues, and that’s what will determine the winner.

“I think that the reason we have primaries is to vet candidates,”

he said. “People vote based on ideas more than presentation style,

though that is important as well.”