Posted on 11/26/2010 2:16:48 PM PST by SmithL
SACRAMENTO -- Republicans could be on the verge of sinking into political oblivion in California, especially if they continue to take hard-line positions on illegal immigration, experts say.
Elections across the state this month left Republicans shut out of all statewide offices. Republicans also failed to gain any new congressional seats and lost one in the Assembly.
The failure was in stark contrast to gains made by Republicans across the country, sending the state GOP into a period of self-reflection over the future solvency of the party.
"We have a deep problem, not one solved easily," said Duf Sundheim, a former chairman of the state GOP. "We'll have to make significant changes if we're to be players in California again. We need to change the way we interact, have a little more humility in the way we present our positions. It requires us to make a fundamental change to our approach."
Latino backlash against Republicans drove the debacle, as illegal immigration occupied a central place in the gubernatorial campaign -- first in the GOP primary when Steve Poizner pushed Meg Whitman to the right by accusing her of being insufficiently hard line. Even Gov. Pete Wilson, the face of the unpopular 1994 ballot measure Prop. 187, made an appearance in a Whitman ad, saying she would be "tough as nails" on illegal immigrants.
But the backbreaker for Whitman, and, it turned out, the entire Republican ticket, came after her former housekeeper, Nicky Diaz Santillan, an illegal immigrant with roots in Union City, emerged with her story of being "treated like garbage" by Whitman.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Gosh, ya think?
the “American” brand has been gone for some time now.
Probably is since the Californians have already thrown out the American “brand” there. California is the first state in the new country of Aztlan.
Not only is the Republican brand going extinct, so is the Anglo Saxon brand. Anything South of the Bay Area is going majority of Latinos. Representation has always been that of the majority of the demographic layout for each district. As more whites flee Cali and are replaced by a lower educated illegal class, more money will be needed of the working class. This is a style of diminishing returns where eventually and possibility in the very short term, a civil war where the have-nots want some of the booty.
I left Calif last year ... I’m not looking back
Well, how's all the room under the big tent feel now?
When California is busted and Californians eventually sicken of being ruled by socialists, unionists, homos, environmentalist wackos and illegals, then change will be coming. One or two years underwater with Brown ought to do it.
Better question:
Which will become extinct sooner? The Republican Party or California's creditworthiness?
Californians are due some "tough love"...
California, the communists capitol of America.
California voters have now called in a Democratic airstrike on their own state. Let's see what the state looks like in two years.
That was the mistake. That woman should have already been deported.
As long as Republicans hang with the Tea Party they’ll do just fine. CA? It is in complete rat control and its future looks mighty dim.
We will see once CA goes bankrupt, and the dems have no more goodies to hand out. We will not have to wait long to find out.
It’s nothing to do with hard-line conservatives. It was Karl Rove’s imposition of Arnold on the party, after the conservatives managed to recall Gray Davis.
It is clear to the dullest eye that Arnold has done nothing to fix the problems he inherited from Davis. After Arnold’s massive failure to fix anything, many voters figure there’s not much point electing another Republican.
The pink elephants took over a lot of the central committees.
The premise of the article is hogwash, of course.
I think the GOP should boycott California and not run any candidates at all. They would eventually scare the daylights out of people. You just have to get the nerve to do something dramatic.
Is the Republican brand going extinct in California?
The producing class is going extinct!
Anyone wanting to start or expand a business would be out of their mind to do it in California. Not only have the progressives increased their strength in the state legislature, they added the governorship and lt. guv, but also now an enviro marxist has been elected Attorney General.
Good luck to businesses in California!
Oh, and how do you think they are going to close that 25 billion dollar deficit? Higher taxes on the producers, more business regulation resulting in additional revenues to the state by means of more fees (higher cost of doing business).
Don’t come to Georgia when you all crash and burn out there on the left coast.
In other words become liberals?
Liberals are in the majority in California, it's a fact of life, just like here in Illinois.
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