Candidates’ choice is Newport-Mesa

Is it the weather? The beautiful beaches? The fine shopping, dining

and hotel accommodations?

Or is it just the vast amounts of cash, ready to pump up war

chests?

Whatever it is, Newport-Mesa seems to be a focal point for

politicians -- from the Golden State and beyond -- who almost always

make a point of stopping here for a stump speech or two.

We have sure gotten our share this week with Republican hopeful

Arnold Schwarzenegger paying a visit to his faithful at the Orange

County Fairgrounds on Thursday.

Then one day later, his wife Maria Shriver, the television

journalist and member of the Kennedy clan, paid a visit to the Balboa

Bay Club to provide gathered Republicans at least 10 reasons to vote

for her husband, who hopes to replace Gov. Gray Davis on Tuesday in

the statewide recall race.

A sweet bit of irony coming from a member of one of the most

storied Democratic political dynasties in America.

But really we’re not that surprised.

You see Arnold and Maria are just the most recent visitors.

Another Republican hopeful, Tom McClintock, paid a visit a couple

weeks ago and Monday Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean

wowed some of his party faithful at a local hotel.

Wasn’t that Hillary Clinton spotted popping out of a Lido Isle

residence just a couple years back?

In 1996, Pat Buchanan gave a stirring speech to the conservative

wing of the Republican Party at the old Red Lion Hotel in Costa Mesa

in his bid to get his party’s nomination over Bob Dole in an attempt

to defeat Bill Clinton.

And speaking of Clinton, it just seemed like yesterday he was

speaking to a crowd at the Orange County Fairgrounds in his 1992 bid

to oust President George H.W. Bush, the father of the current

president.

That elder Bush spent a couple nights at the Four Seasons Hotel

way back in the 1990s and everyone in Costa Mesa knows that the

Mexican restaurant Mi Casa on 17th Street is one of his favorite

eateries.

Before that it was Reagan, Nixon and the Goldwaters, who are well

known in society and yachting circles. The list can go on and on:

attorneys general, senators, foreign heads of state. This place is a

political mecca.

And that’s just fine with us.

As we see it, Newport-Mesa residents are fortunate. Not only do

they live in one of the finest spots in the entire nation, they get

the opportunity to see political candidates up close and personal,

not just some cold broadcast from a TV screen.

Let’s just say that’s reason No. 1,999 to call this place home.