Free Republic

Sacramento, Calif. (AP) -- After steep losses at the polls and successive years of dwindling registration, California Republicans gathered this weekend amid infighting over the direction of a party that is ideologically divided and facing an uncertain future in a rapidly changing state. For the first time in many years, frustrated moderates are publicly pushing back, resisting efforts to further insulate the party in what they say is an effort to save the California GOP from itself. In the process, they hope the party will begin to appeal to independent and minority voters, the fastest-growing segments of the state's electorate....

Last spring, after the governor all but declared war on union leaders and other Democratic interests, Republicans sat and watched as the unions led an offensive that helped drag down the governor's poll ratings, and doom his special election agenda. Under the watch of new campaign manager Steve Schmidt and communications director Katie Levinson, both fresh off the plane from the Bush White House, Team Schwarzenegger is determined not to make the same mistake again. "For California Republicans who were frustrated last year by the lack of an aggressive response out of the governor's operation, they'll be very pleasantly surprised...