THE BELL CURVE:

Well, it has been a week since I wrote my letter to Rick Warren, and — so far — no answer.

I know he’s been busy, what with finding hotel rooms for our two presidential candidates and their parties and drawing up a list of questions to ask them on Saturday.

But the only communication has been a news release dated July 31 and a lot of rumors, and I find both a little unsettling.

According to the news release, “Warren has known each candidate prior to their run for national office.”

And Warren is quoted as saying: “While I know both men as friends, and they recognize I will be frank, but fair, they also know I will be raising questions…beyond what political reporters typically ask.”

Well and good. Just so the hard edges are there, and the soft answers will be followed up by repeating tough questions.

The rumors mostly have to do with the distribution of tickets for some 3,000 seats in the Saddleback Church “worship center” where the questioning of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain will take place.

All the rumors I’ve run across start with free tickets to longtime members of the church and about 500 accredited media people.

But, beyond that point, the rumors have to do with whether a block of tickets have been held out for public distribution.

One rumor suggests that up to 1,000 tickets might be offered to the public in a kind of raffle where the recipient would make a contribution of $1,000 and up to the church.

Another describes a lottery, yet another an auction with similar stakes.

These are highly sensitive areas because the Internal Revenue Service has warned several churches that their tax-exempt status is threatened when it is mixed with politics.

I’ve spent a lot of telephone time trying unsuccessfully to check out these rumors.

In that process I got acquainted with Whitney Kelly, who has the frenetic job of dealing with media for A. Larry Ross Communications, which is handling public relations for the church.

Each time I reach her, she tells me she is either coming out of or going into a meeting on how to handle the tickets.

She promised to notify me instantly when a decision was reached, but deadline has arrived without an answer.

Such a delay seems unfortunate because it allows the rumors to circulate and shifts the focus away from the candidates.

I would have fought for a media ticket, but I’m going to be out of town this weekend, so I’ll get it off the tube, along with the hope that Pastor Warren inspires substantive answers to substantive questions.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch we might have an honest-to-God horse race for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s seat in Congress, which has been a gimme in this Republican stronghold for as long as I can remember.

But there are some serious differences in this election — two in particular — that have Rohrabacher looking over his shoulder.

The first and foremost difference is that instead of the stalking horses he is accustomed to find opposing him, Rohrabacher is looking down the gun barrel at a substantial Democratic candidate in Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook.

She made that clear when she went eyeball to eyeball with a lawsuit filed by Republican activist Michael Schroeder that would have forced her to remove her title as mayor from the upcoming Congressional ballot.

She won big when the 4th District Court of Appeals threw out the suit. About the only measurable result of its filing was an increase in donations to her campaign.

This is almost a classic case of how our political system should work.

Seldom, for example, do local voters have such clearly delineated issues as diverse as global warming (Rohrabacher scoffs at it; Cook supports an international effort to prevent it) or the use of waterboarding during interrogation of terrorist suspects (he says if it can get critical information, it should be “applauded”; she says it should be stopped) on which to base their votes.

The second big difference in 2008 is the current national rejection of President Bush and those elected office holders who supported him for the past eight years.

Polls suggest strongly that Democrats will greatly strengthen their hold on Congress in November, and that wave is being felt even in Newport-Mesa — not only in Cook vs. Rohrabacher but also in Steve Young’s similar challenge of Rep. John Campbell.

Finally, now that filings for local City Councils are closed, two thoughts occur.

First, it is encouraging to find this many citizens seeking to take an active part in local government.

And, second, if a cursory examination of the political philosophies of the Costa Mesa candidates is even remotely accurate, Katrina Foley is going to be awfully lonesome on that dais.

JOSEPH N. BELL lives in Newport Beach. His column runs Thursdays.