Posted on 11/04/2010 11:25:19 AM PDT by SmithL
alifornia Republicans woke up Wednesday with a political hangover. Nationally, they celebrated the GOP's taking control of Congress, but their dismal showing in California gave them a lingering headache.
Many of them wondered how they missed the national wave - and differed on which direction to go next.
They lost nearly every statewide office, drubbed by double digits in most of the races. Meg Whitman couldn't win the governorship despite straddling the political middle and spending a record $160 million. Carly Fiorina couldn't roust Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, despite tacking right and exploiting Boxer's low approval ratings.
For months, party officials boasted that their ticket was its most diverse ever. It included a pro-choice former corporate executive (Whitman); an anti-abortion ex-CEO (Fiorina); a pair of very conservative legislators (Tony Strickland and Mimi Walters); a not-so-conservative Latino who had been appointed to the job he sought (Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado); and a charismatic African American former NFL player turned businessman (Damon Dunn).
All of them lost....
Part of the reason, as Fiorina said in her concession speech Wednesday in Irvine, is that "we could not overcome the (2.3 million) registration advantage the Democrats have, particularly in Los Angeles."
Whitman started making in-roads among Latino voters by spending $12 million in Spanish-language advertising and outreach. But any goodwill evaporated in October after Whitman struggled to handle revelations that she had employed - and fired - an undocumented immigrant as her housekeeper for nine years.
"It's a white party" in an increasingly diverse state, said Robert Huckfeldt,... "What you saw in this election was a lot of partisan voters coming home to their party."
Every Republican paid for the Legislature's agreement to raise taxes as part of the 2009 state budget deal. "It damaged the brand,"
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
California is a lost cause. They are on their way to bankruptcy. But, the voters made their own bed, and they should lie in it.
The national Republican party should just abandon California, and be sure that the federal government doesn't end up bailing the state out.
It will be painful, but the situation will eventually correct itself.
RE: “There is no excuse for conservatives to stay in CA to serve as hosts to the exploding number of tax-sucking parasites who have infested their state. Take your money to a state that is sensible. There are many to choose from.”
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I’m inclined to stay put since I’m retired, but am looking at the remote possibility of Florida — lots of gorgeous homes for sale there now for very little money. FL hit very very hard by housing crisis.
I could still sell my 50 year old cracker-box house here in So Cal, take the cash and buy a beautiful place in FL and have money left over. It’s tempting, I must admit.
How long does it take to drive from the Sarasota area across to the Lauderdale/Miami area (would want to take Caribbean cruises but prefer living on west coast of FL.)
“But to return California to its past American magnificence and glory, would require a ....ahem....shift in its demographics.”
You speak [the unspeakable] truth.
But consider...
If your statement about demographics vs. the state of California are true, what does that say about the future of _the rest_ of the states, if the “shift” in demographics is not checked?
Next time just make the ballots in spanish and save the trouble.
>>”It shouldn’t surprise Republicans that when they stand for nothing, the voters cease to stand with them,” said Rep. Tom McClintock,
>And there you have it.
Bears repeating.
>To our good conservative friends in California:
>Please get out while you can...
Bless ya, but I’m staying (for now). I still hold hope for this beautiful, beautiful land, and I’m still fighting. Plus my husband’s family is here, some of the best tech jobs in the country, too. You can be certain I’m retiring somewhere else, though.
If your statement about demographics vs. the state of California are true, what does that say about the future of _the rest_ of the states, if the “shift” in demographics is not checked?
Exactly!...Beware!....The hand writting may be on the wall with this situation in California. How tuff do things have to get before someone yells “STOP THE DAMN SPENDING!!!!” By electing Brown and Boxer, It’s business as usual. If this voting pattern gets exported around the country by Democrats then America is truly SOL!
Stupid CAGOP voters chose celebrity and big money over character and principle. They chose two McCain-endorsed RINOS who were slaughtered at the polls.
One thought they had their fill with Red Arnold. Apparently not. Its too much to ask them to nominate real conservatives there.
The damn state is in the shitter and they elect Jerry Brown?
Yup. I’m hard-pressed to remember anything conservative that Whitman/Fiorina were for in this campaign. And no conservative I guarantee you voted for the liberal Abdelnado. I don’t thing we lost much in seeing real liberals win again in CA.
RE: “This is actually good... I tend to agree, California, and to a lesser extent New York, are in denial. They refuse to believe there is any need to return to fiscal sanity. It is ironic that they elected Jerry Brown to lead them out of this mess, as he is the one that led them into it by letting the State Employees organize. For all I know Meg Whitman is a great manager, but California is not a management problem amenable to managerial solutions. The Democrats who live there refuse to believe the State can ever run out of other people’s money and that the Government can go on raising taxes forever.”
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Yes, Jerry Brown IS largely to blame for the current problems. He had no clue then, and has no clue now. Nearly everyone I know around So. Cal is either a govt. worker (schools) or works doing something in entertainment (unionized). Everyone is in a union and most vote the way their union tells them — they are nearly ALL lifelong Dems.
They have had delayed paychecks at times;all still have their jobs — the govt. workers anyway. The few people I know who are looking for work are having a horrid time — there is NOTHING. Employers get thousands of resumes for one college grad job.
The employed union people enjoy salaries and benefits above that of the private sector. This was not the case decades ago. Those same people now have no complaints; do not see any problems here and go on their merry way thinking all is well. Talk about ostrich syndrome!
I’m retired but not yet on soc. sec. (ha) so I am doing OK here, going as Galt as possible in my old paid-for house.
However, I am so distressed EVERY day that the stress is killing me. I don’t want to move but feel like I should, to save my sanity and be around some people who think like me. I think I need a red state -— seriously.
For the record, everyone on the dole is NOT Mexican — lots of them, sure, but many of them DO work those jobs and are not on welfare.
My area is very mixed yet the only ‘voters’ I saw at the polls were the regular old white people — lefties to be sure — as has been the case for 40 years.
This state is screwed — I can stay here and survive, angry every day, or try to move to a more pleasant place. Weather has a lot to do with my choice!
Because she didn’t offer voters a real choice. Neither did Fiorina. Both worked for the McCain campaign, one of the worst in recent memory. That should have told state Republicans to stay away from them. Instead they nominated them and Californians got Brown and Boxer again.
RE: “We’re just too far outnumbered now. The one bit of good news is that the bad economy is driving a fair number of illegals elsewhere (hopefully, south of the border).”
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Agree — there definitely are fewer illegals around now — many of them were not on welfare, took those ‘day jobs’ and with the lousy economy and fears of the INS thanks to AZ, they have self-deported. It’s a drop in the bucket, but noticeable.
Everyone I know here, the white people, is a Dem. Neighbors, ‘friends,’ even many family members. It’s some sort of affliction and I probably should go to a red state so I can stop being angry all the time.
The problem actually goes back to Pete Wilson, IMO.
This year Cali used these bonds for roughly 30% of the revenue side of their budget.
Thank you for your correction.
BTW, approximately $120 Billion worth of Build America Bonds (BABs) were issued nationwide in 2009-10. The annual interest subsidy is about 2.5% of that number or $3 Billion nationwide. Since California issued about 12 Billion of the BABs, the benefit they received was about $300 MILLION - a fraction in the scheme of things. Total authorized and outstanding debt in California is about $150 Billion, with debt servicing cost running about $5.5 Billion per year, so this subsidy was not going to make or break California. Total non-federal revenues in California exceed $100 Billion so this $300 Million also did not make a big mark (it's a far cry from "30% of the revenue side of their budget") . Do you think California should have not participated and only other states should have taken advantage of the opportunity?
Perhaps Tom Sullivan can find something more worthy to criticize - there are certainly enough huge issues to address.
Agreed. When given a choice between a real Democrat and the pretend one, people will vote for the real Democrat every time. As long the CAGOP is Dem-Lite, it won’t be a force in California politics.
Brown’s “third term” may go against the spirit of the law, but the actual wording of the laws implementing term limits did not prohibit it. Who would have thought that the whacked geriatric would rise again to run for state office? Had it not been for Arnold hoisting him up and giving him the platform to win the AG race, he wouldn’t be where he is today.
Willie Brown is still eligible to run for Governor. Perhaps he’ll be the next old corrupt liberal for the Dems to trot out.
The Democrats have no deep bench in California despite their overwhelming dominance of the state’s politics. They look back to the past where the rest of the country looks forward to the future. And the best they had to offer in a Republican year was... Jerry Brown!
Arrgggh!
Yep, I'm surrounded by Rats, too. I'm trying to convert two of my neighbors to the "right" side of the aisle, although I think it's probably a waste of time.
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