In GOP They Trust (CA trending Republican)

LA Times ^ | 12/24/04 | Maria L. La Ganga

[BurbankKarl]

MURRIETA, Calif. — As four vintage military planes soared above the second annual Veterans Day parade here last month, all eyes turned skyward.

Suddenly, one plane veered west, alone. The empty space where the plane had flown was a tribute to those who've died in defense of freedom. Eyes misted over. Young parents snapped pictures. Old men saluted.

Mayor Jack van Haaster commemorated the somber fly-by: "We give tribute to those whose lives were lost in service to their country." Then he clambered into a shiny convertible to lead high school bands and candy-tossing Marines, car clubs and Scout troops on a mile-long swing around the unfinished center of this fast-growing, young, Republican city.

Here in the stout heart of red California, voters snort with disdain when they hear that President Bush's strong victory caught America's Democrats by surprise. Not a single Murrieta precinct swung Sen. John Kerry's way in the bitterly fought 2004 election; in many parts of town, 70% or more of the electorate cast ballots for Bush — a strong show of red unity in one of America's bluest states.

The same values that drew voters here to Bush in the first place also led many of them to Murrieta, the self-proclaimed gem of the Temecula Valley, where streets are safe, schools are good and housing is more affordable than in many other parts of California.

"People come here with their families, and they want a conservative lifestyle that they can re-create," said Mayor Pro Tem Kelly Seyrato, who moved here nearly 15 years ago with his wife from Los Angeles County so they could buy a house and start a family. "We were able to recapture the fresh neighborhood of the '60s feel…. It had a lot of promise out here."

[TheOracleAtLilac]

Why not give Arnold a few months to see what type of Gov. he'll be ?
He couldn't make any daring moves pre Nov. elections, but after Jan 2005 he'll have no excuses.

[Timocrat]

so it is easy to forget that more people voted for him in this state than in any other in America

You're right. A million more Californians voted for Bush than did Texans.

[ken21]

amazing.

you're right, after having read the l.a. times for 18 years this article has some insights not normally available in especially the last decade of political correctness.

there must be legions of people living in that valley and burning rubber to los angeles or san diego.

the 15 up that steep mountain immediately south of temecula is amazing. no matter how much you're over ths speed limit, someonelse is going faster.

sad thing, that valley from riverside-temecula-hemet-moreno valley needs another freeway or two.

unbelievable--how they could build the housing developments they're building without more freeways. there needs to be one north-south from moreno valley thru' hemet and into san diego county. and at least one east-west freeway.

[DoughtyOne]

There are many people on this forum that will grimace at your comments here. Actually, they are quite funny in light of my defense of Schwarzenegger. I have probably been his most ardent defender on this forum.

The moment he announced on the 'Tonight Show' that he was going to run, I knew it was a done deal. The guy is immensely popular. His political views were secondary, and I knew they would be. I was not an ardent supporter of his likely policies. I figured the guy would do some things I'd like, but many that I'd detest.

He has lived up to that. He did stop the licenses for illegal alliens dead in it's tracks. It was slated to take effect January 1, 2004, if he hadn't stepped in. (I believe that is accurate.) He did get a small correction through with regard to state comp, but it wasn't nearly the fix we needed.

I defended him, because I wanted folks to please stick to issues concerning things he had done, not what they contended he would do, when there wasn't much we could do about that.

He has been a dismal failure at reducing state spending. Some fault him for a $15 billion dollar bond he floated, which the voters approved of. I thought it was reasonable for him to do it, since major bond debt was coming due and he was pretty much presented with it before he could do much else.

After that bond measure, he could have cut spending. He didn't. In fact, his detractors could honestly say he allowed the budget to expand even further. Not only that, he helped facilitate a massive conservancy in the millions of acres in the High Sierra country. That was a extremely unfortunate. I stand with the High Sierra and surrounding community people, that opposed that conservency. Frankly, it made me quite angry. Land rights are fundimental in this nation. Schwarzenegger should have known better.

He's had time to show his true colors, and I think he's fair game today. Over the next six months, I expect to see him self-destruct when it comes to the 2005 budget, and Californias continuing fiscal crisis.

We shall see. I don't see any circumstances that would get me to support him during the 2006 primary. I only wish his last run had to filter through the primary process.

[GOP_1900AD]

For growing grapes to make Cabernets and Shiraz, heat is actually a good thing. That's why Napa Valley (further inland than Sonoma and very hot at the north end of the valley, routinely above 100 during the summer) has the best Cabs and Paso Robles (even hotter than Temecula, slightly hotter than the northern Napa Valley) some great Shiraz (and Zinfandel).

[GOP_1900AD]

The suburban neighborhood I grew up in during the 70s, in the SF Bay Area, was solid GOP when I was a kid and is now about 70% Dimocrap. Most of the properties turned over and the newbies were mostly relos from Eastern Lib areas or foreigners who the Dims sunk their claws into.

[GOP_1900AD]

If only the jobs would move there, I would. As it stands now, the commute would be bad. I need to come into the office at least 2 or 3 days a week. I wish all the Silly Valley CEOs would realize that just because they live in Woodside, it don't mean that places like Fremont or Sunnyvale are the best places to locate their businesses. I think they are sort of out of touch with reality.

[mainepatsfan]

The Dems screwed Thune in 2002 and he was able to knock off an even tougher opponent in 2004.

[GOP_1900AD]

Sadly, they are having too many. It is interesting, what I see is that in very liberal areas such as here, San Mateo County, the libs are *more* likely to have kids than conservatives. At least some of these libs are not the types who would insist on certain financial and childrearing conditions in order to have children. They've got no problem with going into debt, no problem with two working parents and no problem with government schools. Whereas, take someone like me. I want a single parent situation, no debt and given the Gay / multicultural agenda in the schools here, private school. So that disuades me from having a large family. To have a large family under the conditions I insist on for child rearing, I will either have to move to a less expensive area here or leave the state. However if I do that, then I have to accept either a very long commute to my current, good paying job,or change to what will probably be a lower paying one with less stability. This is the fundamental limit, at present, to GOP growth in California.

[Positive]

"The same values that drew voters here to Bush in the first place also led many of them to Murrieta, the self-proclaimed gem of the Temecula Valley, where streets are safe, schools are good and housing is more affordable than in many other parts of California."

The Temecula Valley, containing Murrieta, Temecula and Wildomar is the fasting growing part of the 2nd fasting growing county in California. Placer County is fastest with a population of approximately 292,000. With over 1.8 million folks, Riverside County has more population than 15 of our States.

As the proud owner of TemeculaValley.com I am going to develop it into a Community/Content/Commerce portal for the valley once I have accumulated enough capital to do it right.

Visit the Temecula Valley, Southern California Wine Country...and a great place to live. (Lots of green because of thesix excellent golf courses there.

P.S. California Red and Blue...

The wide, long red county in the deep South, with 58% Bush is Riverside County.

[Mr. K]

From the looks of this map, Republican migh be good to look at trying to convert NYS or CA. if a massive voter turnout came through in the red areas, Republicans could win.

[BenLurkin]

What America needs is to break the left's strangle hold on the schools -- particularly in the urban areas.

[Positive]

I'm not color blind, I should have said Red/Green California map instead of Red/Blue...leave it to California government to "go against the flow."

[GOP_1900AD]

With the ski resort crowd there, I am not surprised about Alpine County, but what is up with Mono County? I would think they would vote similarly to Inyo, San Bernadino and Riverside Counties. Any clue?

[Simmy2.5]

Yup. We're not as hopeless as most people think we are. Problem is, at least in the meantime, the 45% of the population that voted Bush here are held hostage by the 55% that voted Kerry. That and, given the garrymandered districts, that's not going to change in the near future. Even then, with all the problems the Dems are having (Perata, Shelly, Gregory, etc.), there are still things to be hopeful in this state.

Speaking of Riverside County, when I'm not at home in the kooky Bay Area, I go to school at UCR. We recently set up a Republican Club here (litterally became offical a week before the election [you could pretty much thank the adminstrators for that]) that, believe it or not, has around 40 members! Of course according to the local College newspaper, over 70% of the voting students voted for Kerry. I also read that UCR is the biggest employee in Riverside city (country, maybe not. But at least in the city it is). Funny, while the county is home to a very liberal school (students and faculty) the actual county is turning redder. What a wonderful thing.

[Simmy2.5]

Well, a lot of the Dems in this state (at least the politicians) are so far to the left, they probably really belong to the Green Party anyways. So, in a way, that is a better color for them!

[Mr. K]

I have considered the figure you mentioned. I also heard an incedible statistic during the election. Someone provided figures showing that democrap turnout is ALWAYS approx 35%. ALWAYSl. It is the increase or decrease in Republican turnout that decides elections. All we gotta do is get out the vote better.

[TheOracleAtLilac]

I am distrustful of all politicians (G.W. included), but I voted for Arnold:
because Cruz-baby would've further ruined the state &
If for some miracle, McClintock could've been elected, he could only use the veto pen & it would've be "biz as usual" for the Dem. crooks/commies - i.e. no change, different leader.

GW's putting 2 of the Nation's biggest probs. (inc. tax & SS) high on his agenda.

Let's hope Arnold follows suit & targets:
Special interest influences (labor,teachers,trial lawyers,etc) for a giant smack down
a massive reduction/restructering in state departments/agencies
a statewide redistricting
an overhaul of state welfare/entitlements
etc

There's no underestimating Arnold's talent & ambition
(nor his arrogance)

2005 shoul be an interesting year in Calif

[DoughtyOne]

With regard to Schwarzenegger's term, I do expect this year to be interesting. If he could pull off much of what you listed, it would be very good for the state. Sadly, he has some leftist streaks running through him that are very chilling IMO.

I would like to see the President address the issues you mention, but sadly, if he follows through and gets his immigration plans driven through..., I don't even want to think about it.

[Positive]

Mono County? Only 12800 or so total population - median age 36.

Maybe the folks are too young to understand conservatism.

W lost by 7 votes...

John F. Kerry                  Democratic                  2,628   49.4% 
  
George W. Bush                 Republican                  2,621   49.2% 
  
Michael Anthony Peroutka       American Independent           11    0.2% 
  
David Cobb                     Green                          22    0.4% 
  
Michael Badnarik               Libertarian                    30    0.5% 
  
Leonard Peltier                Peace & Freedom                18    0.3%