Jackson Tops Poll of County Democrats at Convention

The Rev. Jesse Jackson won a straw poll of Democratic presidential candidates at the Orange County Democratic convention Saturday.

The final vote was 27% for Jackson, 21% for Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, 17% for Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois, 14% for New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, 7% for former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, 6% for former Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado, 4% for Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt and 2% for Sen. Albert Gore of Tennessee. Other candidates drew slightly more than 1% combined.

Cuomo, who is not an announced candidate, came in fourth because of a write-in effort.

Delegates also supported, by a 61%-39% margin, the slow-growth initiatives now circulating in the county, and they gave Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, one of the speakers at the convention, their overwhelming approval as a U.S. Senate candidate opposing incumbent Pete Wilson (R-Calif.).

Also on the straw poll ballot was former TV commentator Bill Press, who got 17% of the vote, and Robert Banuelos, who got 1%.

About 1,000 Democrats attended the event Saturday at the Anaheim Hilton, and another 500 attended Friday night events--the largest turnout of three such conventions held in the county since 1984. The event featured as speakers such prominent Democrats as McCarthy, state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and state Controller Gray Davis.

Tim Carpenter of Laguna Beach, who worked for Jackson in 1984, said Jackson supporters turned out in force Saturday “under the belief that if he (Jackson) has a strong showing in the straw poll, that helps Jesse in Iowa (in the caucuses scheduled for Feb. 8).” He said Jackson especially wanted to make a good showing in conservative Orange County to show he could attract a more broad-based vote.

Convention organizers praised the Jackson organization for its efforts but cautioned against interpreting the straw poll as an indication of support among Democratic voters.

“It shows most people haven’t made up their minds,” said George Urch, Orange County Democratic Party executive director, of the poll results. He said most Democrats are waiting until after the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary Feb. 16 indicate the front-runners to make their choices.

Orange County Democratic Party Chairman John Hanna said that while this support shows that Jackson has a “good core” among local Democrats, “I don’t think Jackson winning this straw poll is an indication of his support among the 375,000 Democrats here.”

Hanna noted that “had Hart not self-destructed” by dropping out of the race last May over his involvement with a Miami model, only to re-enter the race in December in a weakened campaign, he probably would have won the straw poll easily. He won nearly all the Democratic delegates in the 1984 primary election and enjoyed the deepest financial and other support of any Democratic presidential candidate.

Dennis DeSnoo, a political consultant who helped organize the convention, said the event netted the party between $10,000 and $15,000. While past conventions had been held in senior or community centers, the fact that this one was held at a hotel was viewed as a sign of progress for the party in heavily Republican Orange County.