The area between LA and San Diego

[jiacinto]

What made it so Republican? And from what states did the new migrants that populated places like Yorba Linda and other Orange/San Diego counties come from? When was the last time Orange County supported a Democratic presidential candidate?

[HawkerHurricane]

1. Quick look at the map...

Camp Pendleton (USMC base)
El Toro (USMC base)
Small communities just north of Camp Pendleton: old money wealth.
Orange County: white flight suburbans, people who left Los Angeles because of 'Too many of THOSE people'. See also 'Inland Empire' along I-15.

These places are not a Reputoklan lock anymore, though: Orange County has discovered that they have a Hispanic majority (and Bush's economy is really hurting them). The Inland Empire is also hurting. The former Marines living around Oceanside are getting leary of G.W.'s war.

[Clete]

2. This what makes me think that poorer neighborhoods

were disenfranchised in the recall election and not all the votes were counted. I can't believe any Hispanic, no matter how conservative s/he may be, voting for Arnold with the distasteful stories that were printed about him. There are large pockets of Hispanics in the central vally of California too that are considered traditionally Republican.

[HawkerHurricane]

8. Believe it

People voted for Arnie not because of what he did in his 'real' life, but what they saw him do in the movies...

[mike_c]

3. HH nailed it....

It's a bastion of the military, BIG defense contractors, captains of industry, wannabe American dreamers, and old money.

[jiacinto]

4. Ok

But did Orange County ever vote Democratic in a presidential race?

[nbsmom]

6. I would say no.

Before the military installments, there were citrus growers...and don't forget, many of the old money CA had their beach homes in Newport Beach and Laguna (there was tolerance IIRC of gays and liberals in Laguna, but that's just because it was an artist colony).

They don't call it the Orange Curtain for nothing...

[jiacinto]

13. Ok

nt

[Clete]

14. Back in the fifties, Orange County was largely undeveloped

and rural. The residents were for the most part Asian or Mexican American. None of these people really had an interest in voting leaving the politics to the white, conservative minority, who nonetheless owned everything.

It was the white flight from Los Angeles County along with the accompanying development that made it a Republican bastion and a perfect place for Bob Dornan to run since no one in my neighborhood of W. LA would vote him into office. We were way too librul.

It was Loretta Sanchez who mobilized the majority Hispanic community to get them out to vote for her. Bye...bye, B52 bomber Bob.

[Democat]

5. Oceanside is a big military base and town

Look at the map, there is a huge military base between San Diego and Orange County. That has to have an influence on the areas around it.

[dreissig]

7. Nixon Country

A tourist guide to Orange County recommends the Nixon Library with this glowing text:

Although he was the most vilified U.S. president in modern history, there has always been a warm place in the hearts of Orange County locals for Richard Nixon. This presidential library, located in Nixon's boyhood town, celebrates the roots, life, and legacy of America's 37th President. The 9-acre site contains the modest farmhouse where Nixon was born, manicured flower gardens, a modern museum housing presidential archives, and the final resting place of Mr. Nixon and his wife, Pat.

http://www.travelto-orangecounty.com/04_01_nixion_library.htm


The Nixon Library

[theboss]

9. Welcome to the OC, bitch!!

Sorry . . just wanted to say that.

[jiacinto]

10. Yeah

I want to see the Nixon library.

[CoolerKing]

11. interesting article in yesterday's LA Times...

talks a bit about the changing nature of "the OC." It's an article about the county's GOP chair (Fuentes) who apparently gets into snits with Republicans who don't share his right-wing views. Pretty funny stuff.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fuentes27oct27,1,3075665.story

Excerpt:

Much of the tug-of-war over Fuentes lies in the changing nature of Orange County and its politics. Over the last 20 years, he has been credited with building party fortunes from its minority status in the late 1970s to the point it is today — with 235,000 more Republicans than Democrats.

But during that same period, the county has become more diverse demographically and politically. The staunch conservatism that gripped the county has ebbed, beginning with the defeat of firebrand Rep. Robert K. Dornan in 1996 by Democrat Loretta Sanchez. Two years later, the county regained Democrats in the Assembly and Senate.

Fuentes has been notorious for upbraiding aspiring candidates who didn't share his views, and for telling female candidates they should focus on their families. A staunch Catholic, Fuentes is aligned with the ideologically conservative wing of the party, those for whom election choices hinge on issues such as opposition to abortion, gun control and civil rights for gays. Tom McClintock, the candidate favored by those voters, got just 15% of the turnout in Orange County in the Oct. 7 election — 10,000 fewer votes than were cast for Democrat Bustamante.

In recent years, Fuentes' boasting rights on turnout and grass-roots effectiveness also have shrunk. In the 2000 election, for example, President Bush won Orange County with just 150,000 more votes than Democrat Al Gore. Last year, the county margin was even less for gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon.

[jiacinto]

12. Orange County was Democratic until the 1970s?

In the 1960s it supported nothing but Republicans.

[CoolerKing]

15. I don't know...

but times change. Here is a snippet of history from the California Democratic Party's website which might explain things:

"The Democratic Party swept the 1962 elections, with Pat Brown being re-elected Governor over former Vice President Richard Nixon. Soon, however, the Vietnam war and Civil Rights began to emerge as the major political issues of the day. Division of opinion over the United States' involvement in the war arose within the California Democratic Party. The CDC splintered on the issue, and in 1966, Republican Ronald Reagan defeated Brown in the governor's race.

The Republican Party held sway in California until 1974, when Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. was elected. Brown came into office shortly after the Watergate scandal hurt the Republican Party throughout the United States and resulted in an upsurge in Democratic registration in California. Jerry Brown served two terms as Governor. His 1982 defeat in a bid for United States Senate and L.A. Mayor Bradley's defeat for Governor, signaled a resurgence of Republican power in California. Mayor Bradley's second defeat for Governor in 1986, coupled with Michael Dukakis' 1988 presidential loss in California, saw the decline of Democratic registration."

http://www.ca-dem.org/party_history.php