Posted on 01/29/2006 5:53:21 PM PST by Amerigomag
SACRAMENTO – Is recent Republican teeth-gnashing over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger "healthy dialogue" or is the Republican governor in danger of hurting his state party and its candidates seeking office, as Schwarzenegger critics contend?
Whatever the case, one thing is clear: clashes between some GOP activists and Schwarzenegger are nothing new in a state where Republican governors need the votes of Democrats and independents to get elected. That means doing things that don't resonate with hard-core Republicans who are often the foot soldiers in campaigns, some political analysts say.
"As Richard Nixon once said, 'If you don't have a chunk of your base angry at you, you are not doing your job," said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. "If you were the kind of Republican who would meet all these tests of the party's right wing, you would not be the kind of Republican who would win in fall 2006." At a 1991 party convention, for example, then-Gov. Pete Wilson was hanged in effigy for proposing a tax increase to shrink a $14B deficit.
But some analysts and other key Republicans say the arguments over Schwarzenegger have a sharper edge than those over past Republican governors in California. Unlike past GOP governors, Schwarzenegger did not come up through the party and had no political track record to suggest what kind of leader he would be. Yet his fame and popular appeal quickly propelled the movie-star-turned-governor to the head of the party.
"One of the major difficulties for the different Republican factions within the party is seeing the governor ... taking the party in a direction they are philosophically struggling with," said Mark Chapin Johnson, a Tustin businessman who helped found the New Majority, a powerful Republican group in Orange County.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
That'd be ol lumpjawed Lungren... Now Congressman Dan Lungren... Phhhhhht!!!
Snickering.
At least you aren't Schwartzeneggering.
Nope. zeneggering is contrary to my ethics.
>> Fortunately the CA GOP isn't going to let the fringe elements who are trying to get a Dem elected, while telling everyone how conservative they are, to hijack the GOP. <<
Oh, yeah... the country's just chock full of extremist conservatives working their hardest to get Democrats elected. What an idiot.
The dems have Howard Dean, we have ,, uhh, yaknow... :-)
Ha, good one.
It would be nice if the voters would go through with more of the propositions so the State can change for the better.
The lack of conservative voter participation was piss poor in CA in 2005.
I would like to see a source for this quote. It sounds.... Jayson Blairsy-ish to me.
Schwarzenegger will win in a landslide.
Bet your house on it.
The lack of conservative voter participation was piss poor in CA in 2005.
--
Ya ever consider it may have been the lack of conservatism within the propositions that had a bit to do with the results as well. just a thought
Even if it was for one proposition the conservatives could have gotten off their butt to come out and vote.
Too darn lazy and satisfied, so they stayed home.
On that I agree to a certain extent.
Folks could have voted on some and left the others blank if they chose to not support a key prop or two.
Losing prop 73 is the best example and probably one of a few I would say fall in that category.
Politics is a vicious game. That's what we have come to in this state where the legislature refuses to do what we elect them for. The voters are to blame in more than one way, that being said.
We agree!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.