CAMPAIGN JOURNAL : Herschensohn Lunch With Women Draws 400 Admirers

IRVINE —  U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn has developed a magical art of inverting perceived weaknesses into seeming strengths.

When Democrat Barbara Boxer criticized the conservative Republican’s opposition to environmental regulations, Herschensohn responded with a television ad declaring himself friendly to the environment but hostile to government meddling.

When Boxer attacked him for refusing to cut defense spending, he turned the tables on the five-term congresswoman, blasting her for authoring a resolution to disclose “military secrets” on the eve of the Persian Gulf War.

But on Monday, Herschensohn performed perhaps the most masterful magic feat of them all: He turned the so-called Year of the Woman on its head, pulling more than 400 conservative Republican women out of his hat for a chicken salad luncheon and some old-fashioned gentlemanly charm.

“I know I risk sounding sexist,” a grinning Herschensohn announced from the head table, seven women to his left and right. “But this is the best political event I have been to!”

Herschensohn, one adoring participant noted, played the role of “all-American man” so well that he even refused to eat his salad, demanding red meat--a hamburger--instead. The former television commentator was so smitten by the display of affection that he abandoned his prepared text (yet another attack on Boxer’s abuse of congressional perks) and reminisced instead like a high school quarterback boasting to classmates about a game-saving play.

He talked nostalgically about his years in the Richard M. Nixon White House, calling his work for the former President “one of the proudest parts of my life,” and the Orange County crowd applauded appreciatively. He also joked self-deprecatingly about recent campaign appearances with Vice President Dan Quayle, including an incident in San Francisco when Quayle was whisked away by skittish Secret Service agents, leaving Herschensohn alone on the sidewalk to face a throng of protesters.

“I don’t want to give a campaign speech, I just don’t feel like it,” he finally confessed, flashing a toothy smile as the women applauded in approval. Only spokesman John Peschong responded to the announcement halfheartedly. He was left with a stack of useless press releases announcing, “Herschensohn Blasts Boxer for Her Abysmal Record in Congress.”

Organized as “Women for Bruce,” the event in the ballroom of the Radisson Plaza Hotel was intended to show that Boxer and the host of other Democratic women candidates across the state do not have a lock on the female vote, particularly here in the bastion of conservatism. It was not a fund-raiser--the $25 charge barely covered the bill of fare--but was a pep rally for a man whose recent rise in the polls has given many Republicans new hope about Election Day.

But while Herschensohn decided to stay above the fray and play the perfect gentleman, not all of the women chose to be perfect ladies.

Susan Carpenter McMillan, an anti-abortion-rights activist who has taken Herschensohn’s job as a conservative commentator on KABC-TV, reserved her most scathing remarks for Boxer, who she called a “check-bouncing, pay-raising, aging cheerleader” who is out of touch with California.

“I am a strong conservative feminist, and I believe in total equality for all women, and yet I am outraged that they would call this the year of the so-called woman,” she said. “It more appropriately should be called the year of the socialist woman. Somebody should tell them that socialism is dead everyplace but in the Democratic Party.”

Even with such talk, a recent Los Angeles Times poll shows that Herschensohn suffers from a gender gap statewide, with women favoring Boxer by 18 points. Asked to explain why more women have not rallied to his cause, Herschensohn told reporters after the luncheon that it is “a macho thing.”

“Women are a little afraid of guys who look like John Wayne,” he said.