Truesee's Daily Wonder

Bill Clinton and Sarah Palin will be fundraising in the O.C. on consecutive days in October. | AP Photos Close

JONATHAN ALLEN | 10/1/10 4:38 AM EDT

The studio execs in nearby Hollywood couldn't have produced a better opening scene for Election 2010: Bill Clinton and Sarah Palin — two of the titans of their parties — will barnstorm through Orange County, Calif., on consecutive days in mid-October.

The former president is headlining an event for Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez on Oct. 15, POLITICO has learned. Sanchez, who supported Clinton's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, is locked in a tough re-election battle against Republican Van Tran in the 47th District.

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, will be in Anaheim the following day, raising money for the Republican National Committee, which has had difficulty stockpiling cash for GOP ground operations around the country.

The criss-crossing of two of the nation's biggest political celebrities appears to be a matter of pure coincidence, but it promises to provide compelling optics for both parties — and for cable television. 

Orange County is hallowed ground in political history, a longtime haven of conservative activism and a wellspring of cash for Republican candidates. Yet the county has been trending toward Democrats for decades because of an influx of Hispanics and Asians.

Republicans say Palin will be a big draw, especially for base voters whose importance is magnified in mid-term elections and particularly in an area of the country where conservative roots continue to run deep — even amid changing demographics. Her event is also in the 47th District.

The Palin event could also provide some added excitement for Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, Senate GOP nominee Carly Fiorina and Tran, according to some strategists.

"From a rock star perspective, she'll inject some energy," Republican strategist John Feehery told POLITICO.

And the money she raises is intended to help GOP candidates in California and across the country.

"Obviously, Gov. Palin will provide a boost to our fundraising and we’re thrilled to have her help," said a Republican National Committee source. "Any money raised will go to our victory program, which would include the victory centers we have throughout California."

Democrats contend that it's the former president whose star power will dominate the political scene that week in southern California.

"President Clinton oversaw the creation of 22 million jobs during his administration, compared to Sarah Palin, who fired the local Wasilla librarian," said a source familiar with the planning for the Clinton event. "Is there any comparison?”

Sanchez can use all the help she can get with Vietnamese Americans -- a group that she has long courted as a candidate and lawmaker -- because of an appearance on Univision in which she told viewers in Spanish that the Vietnamese community was trying to take the seat away from the larger Latino population. She described Tran as "very anti-immigrant and very anti-Hispanic."

She apologized to others who took offense, but didn't back down from her allegations about Tran's record.

Ramakrishnan said Tran's reaction -- he called Sanchez's remarks a "racial rampage" in a Los Angeles Times interview -- could backfire and help Sanchez "if this plays out in a way that Latinos countermobilize because they feel that their candidate is being beaten up upon."

Though Sanchez has a significant campaign treasury, California's 47th District is an expensive place to campaign. Not only is the Los Angeles media market one of the nation's most costly, but the district's diversity forces candidates to communicate to voters in multiple languages. That drives up the costs of basic campaign tools, such as polling and direct-mail literature.

Sanchez had more than $1.26 million in the bank at the end of June -- the last date for which reports were available -- and Tran had a little less than $290,000.

But it's been three months since then, and new reports are due the day Clinton comes to Santa Ana for Sanchez.

Ramakrishnan said the Palin visit is a good opportunity for the GOP to collect cash from the area's conservative base.

"Palin's appearance will be important not just in terms of mobilizing voters but in terms of fundraising," Ramakrishnan said. "There was some question as to whether the area was trending Democrat because of the growing Latino population. This is a good moment while the area is still heavily republican to do fundraising."

The largest of the nearly four dozen ballrooms at the Marriott Anaheim, where Palin is due to appear, holds about 3,500 people. Tickets for the event range from $20.10 to $1,000 (if purchased at the door), with the highest-end contributors getting access to a reception and photo-op with Palin, a commemorative copy of her book, two tickets to the rally and a one-year membership in the RNC's "president's club."