Hispanic Republicans surge in California

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SANTA ANA, Calif. -- It was predicted, and doubted, years ago.

There are seven Hispanic Republicans challenging Democratic incumbents for congressional seats and another dozen or so running for the state Assembly.

Some have run and lost before, but are bolstered by the party's heightened profile among Hispanics prompted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But others are newly minted federal candidates, likewise prompted by the governor's standing in the community.

Leading the pack of new Republican hopefuls in the largest blue state in the land is Alexandria Coronado, 36, a single mother who believes she can unseat Rep. Loretta Sanchez in a district that is 34 percent Republican.

"You know that in politics, the pendulum swings," says Miss Coronado, a pianist and a member of the Orange County Board of Education. "And it will swing this way, and that's when you will see more Republican Hispanics running for the higher offices. For a long time, they were school board members and things like that. Not anymore."

The Democratic utopia of California makes such a proposed transformation all the more unlikely because it is a state where Democrats have ruled with the faithful help of the nationally coveted Hispanic vote.

Even state pundits don't doubt some of these challenges.

"You know, Loretta Sanchez is vulnerable," Dick Rosengarten, publisher of the state political news weekly California Political Week, said of the 47th District incumbent. "And some of these other Hispanic candidates can make things tough for the incumbents. The state party has done a tremendous job of recruiting here."

Many of these eager Hispanic Republican candidates are no-chancers who are continuing an effort to pave the way.

Still aching from a 81 percent to 19 percent drubbing two years ago, Luis Vega, a native of Puerto Rico, is again taking on Rep. Xavier Becerra in the 31st District, an urban enclave that is built for Democrats, with young people, activist immigrants and lifelong liberals.