Mr. Inside: The Inside Track on El Toro?

They began as freshmen congressmen in Washington on the same day in 1989, seen as twin pillars of a new generation of Orange County conservatives. Eight terms later, both have eased into middle age, comfortably ensconced in safe Republican districts.

That’s not to say that Dana Rohrabacher and Christopher Cox are twins.

Cox, 50, has become the button-down, cerebral House insider who’s been mentioned for every key opening from federal judgeship to Speaker of the House to vice president. Rohrabacher, 55, is not mentioned in such sentences and is probably just as content to be seen as the surfer Republican he once called himself.

Given their politics and friendship, the two seldom clash.

But nothing locally can divide people like the El Toro airport issue, and the two pals squared off indirectly in print last week after the disclosure that Los Angeles wants the federal government to let it operate an international airport in Orange County.

Rohrabacher says an airport is the best use of the abandoned Marine base; Cox has argued that the site should be sold, which is the government’s current plan for the parts of the base not set aside for the proposed Great Park approved by Orange County voters last year.

Rohrabacher says Cox remains his best friend in Congress and that the two were discussing Iraq on Thursday. However, he says, they rarely discuss El Toro, the county’s most contentious issue of the last decade. “Chris is not trying to win me over,” Rohrabacher says, “and I’m not trying to win him over.”

It’s hard to picture Mr. Outsider carrying the day on El Toro.

Cox, who ranks fifth in House leadership, reacted quickly last week, saying he’d contacted the key players and that they weren’t pursuing the L.A. initiative. He reiterated that when we talked Thursday.

Rohrabacher says he’s also talked to the “players” in the issue. “If L.A. makes an official request, I can weigh in with the Department of Transportation and tell them what they already know -- which is that it’s a travesty to obliterate several billion dollar’s worth of aviation assets bought by federal tax dollars and not give it another try to see if the public accepts an airport.”

Ain’t gonna happen, Cox says.

As for Rohrabacher, he seems to be tilting at El Toro windmills, even though the impetus for resurrecting the idea came from L.A.

But why not? It’s part of his charm. When Rohrabacher took office after being elected in 1988, the question was “Is he going to be serious or not?” says Keith White, executive editor of CongressDaily, a publication chronicling congressional news.

He has been. While Rohrabacher hasn’t attained Cox’s stature, neither is he dismissed. “It’s not that he’s viewed as a flake or anything like that,” White says.

Rather, he’s known as a “free spirit” who selects from an eclectic set of issues, White says. “He’s one of the guys that’ll pick up an issue that perhaps nobody else will.”

Mr. Insider says an El Toro airport is a dead duck.

Maybe not, says Mr. Outsider. “It is not in play at this moment,” Rohrabacher says, “but it can be brought back into play if LAX makes a request of the Department of Transportation and [the department] makes the request to the Navy.”

This isn’t about clout, Rohrabacher says. “The ball is not in my court. The ball is in the court of the people who have to make the official requests.”

Between friends, politics need not be ugly.

But don’t you just know Mr. Outsider would love to pull the upset on Mr. Insider?

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821, at dana.parsons@latimes.com or at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.