Small city attracts more presidents than just Obama

“There’s a new Democratic Party, an old Republican Party, and we’re going to help lift America up together,” he told the crowd. “So let me ask you a question in Orange County – how are you doing?”

A year after leaving the vice presidency and a few years before being elected president, Richard Nixon – a native Orange County man - gave a speech at the Costa Mesa fairgrounds while running for governor of California in 1962.

In a sharply acerbic critique of his opponent, Democrat Pat Brown, Nixon touted what he said were superior credentials in fighting “internal subversion” by being tough on communism.

Nixon lost the election 52-47, but not on account of Orange County. The Republican stronghold delivered up 60% of the electorate for its native son, more than all but two other counties in the state, according to state records.

When Obama won Costa Mesa by a slim margin in November, the Democratic Party of Orange County trumpeted that it was the first time a Democrat won the town since Franklin D. Roosevelt almost a century ago.

“It’s always good to get out of Washington for a little while and come to places like Costa Mesa,” Obama said, adding that the “climate is nicer, and so is the conversation.”

Apparently he’s not the only president that feels that way about the small city.

“Maybe it’s part of establishing your presidency, stopping in Costa Mesa,” said City Manager Allan Roeder.