WHAT'S NEXT FOR CALIFORNIA? Sustaining a national GOP majority

SFGate.com ^ | 1/3/05 | Jim Hartman

[NormsRevenge]

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President Bush's broad re-election victory and Republican gains across the country reflect the fact that through a structural realignment, the GOP has now become the majority party in the country.

Noted political scientist Walter Dean Burnham, the nation's leading theorist on realignment, says the 2004 election "consolidates" what began in 1994 when Republicans shattered the 40-year Democratic grip on Congress and statehouses. Since then, the GOP has held its gains, adding to them in 2002 and 2004.

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Republicans are also riding the crest of a "big tent" movement that threatens to leave an increasingly ossified Democratic Party behind. The four most popular political figures in America are all moderate Republicans -- Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Colin Powell. The Democrats have no similar high-profile political leaders who can appeal to voters in the middle.

So what could upset this Republican hegemony? For Republicans to continue to succeed, the party needs to listen to the unheeded warnings Georgia Democrat Zell Miller gave to his party.

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A national party intent on a generation of authority should avoid the mistake Democrats made when they drove every pro-life official from their leadership ranks. If Democrats had more center-left voices, a wiser party might have prevented the rise of Michael Moore -- a rise that actually landed him in the presidential box at the Democratic convention.

Republicans appear to have met their first governing test in the debate over the rise of Pennsylvania's pro-choice Sen. Arlen Specter to the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A national party should welcome the visibility of a member whose views are not always -- or even often -- in step with the majority's ideology. Specter is now expected to be made chairman by Senate Republican committee members in January.

[bobjam]

This is just another "the GOP needs to cave into liberal values" rant. Why doesn't this RINO include GW in his list of popular political figures? I seriously doubt McCain or Powell would have pulled more than 50%. Mr RINO even exumes and whips the long dead horse of "there aren't enough pro-life voters to keep a solid pro-life GOP in power". Then why is a solid pro-life GOP in power? There are enough voters who reject partial birth infanticide, support parental notification, and favor pro-adoption policies.