CA: With runoff looming, Bruce McPherson quits GOP

Santa Cruz Sentinel via San Jose Mercury News ^ | 20 June 2012 | Jason Hoppin

[CounterCounterCulture]

Bruce McPherson said Tuesday he is dropping his GOP party affiliation and listing no preference, joining a growing bloc of California voters who've renounced party identification...

(snip)

An abortion rights supporter who's willing to discuss new taxes, McPherson was known as a moderate during his 11 years in the Legislature. During the years, he has endorsed local Democrats such as Fred Keeley, Henry Mello and Sam Farr.

(snip)

McPherson said he did not consider registering as a Democrat.

"No, because I think the far left of the Democrats is in the same situation as the far right of the Republican Party," McPherson said. "You just have to find a mean. I don't think anybody can find a politician who has been identified as a moderate more than Bruce McPherson."

[CounterCounterCulture]

Note: He's running for the nonpartisan office of county supervisor. First-time candidate Eric Hammer, a Democrat, appears to have cleared enough votes to force the runoff (some tallying still remains).

[SoldierDad]

McPherson is running for County Supervisor after having been a State Assemblyman and CA Secretary of State? Rising (falling) to the level of your competence, Bruce???

On a related matter, County Supervisor is NOT a non-partisan office. Partisan politics is very much a part of being a county supervisor, at least within the counties that I've been watching.

[nickcarraway]

McPherson was a Republican? Wait, did he know that?

[Venturer]

I don’t know the man , but it sounds like he wasn’t much of anything to begin with.

[nickcarraway]

Could this work for Romney?

[hedgetrimmer]

Which county?

[DoughtyOne]

If we remove all the Democrats from the Republican party, we won’t have much Left. Sounds like a plan!

[DoughtyOne]

If we remove all the Democrats from the Republican party, we won’t have much Left. Sounds like a plan!

[CounterCounterCulture]

Santa Cruz

[CounterCounterCulture]

Santa Cruz ping

[CounterCounterCulture]

County Supervisor is NOT a non-partisan office

I agree. There really is no such thing as a non-partisan race. For the purposes of elections, the Secretary of State and Registrar of Voters labels such races as "non-partisan," even though we understand the reality of politics.

[CounterCounterCulture]

BTW, that post was recorded as my 25,000th post on FreeRepublic. Yay me.

[Bratch]

Moderate = middle of the road

[old school]

Oh please, with very rare exception it’s the entire state!

[fieldmarshaldj]

Ah-nold’s ultra-liberal RINO ex-Sec of State quits the GOP.

[muleskinner]

I'm surprised he kept getting elected in that district. 80% of his constituency are to the left of Bruce. The only ones near him politically are the farmers and ranchers. The rest are either migrant farmworkers, legal and illegal, or granola crunching stoner surfers and their enabling ex-hippie leftist mom and dad.

[SaraJohnson]

Good news! Go Brrrucie. Take all the other RINOS with you.

[Carry_Okie]

Let's just rearrange this article a little bit.

McPherson said he did not consider registering as a Democrat.

"No, because I think the far left of the Democrats is in the same situation as the far right of the Republican Party,"

During the years, he has endorsed local Democrats such as Fred Keeley, Henry Mello and Sam Farr.

Fred Keeley and Sam Farr aren't rabid left wing? That's news to me.

[Carry_Okie]

BTW, that post was recorded as my 25,000th post on FreeRepublic. Yay me.

You just made me look it up. I'm 53 shy of 40K.

[Clintonfatigued]

I remember Bruce McPherson. He won a special election to the state Assembly in a solidly Democrat district after Sam Farr succeeded Leon Panetta in Congress. McPherson went on to get elected to the state Senate in a district that had been represented by a Decmorat for 20 years. He represented areas that normally voted for Democrats (including the ultra-leftist Santa Cruz area), so conservatives were happy to tolerate him. Now he’s yesterday’s political news and no one cares anymore.