I don’t see a GOP candidate taking CA or NY anytime in the near future. Obama lands Air Force One in both states long enough to fill his money bags. Union employees, the unemployed and hispanics own those two states.
I don’t live in California but it seems to me that the RINOS pulled a fast one on the conservatives when they pushed Arnold Swarzeneggar as governor. Tom McClintock was running against him and the talk was—oh, Tom Mclintock can’t win, you need someone with star power. Well they got a RINO with star power who was married to a Kennedy.
Conservatives have to get really serious about developing their truth detectors. We keep electing RINOS because we are too trusting and we reject people who are more conservative in order to get someone that we think can win. That was the erroneous thinking that elected Swarzenneggar and many other RINOS up and down the ticket.
Not at the presidential level. But in strongly Democrat states the party's candidates can be so far to the left that Republican candidates for governor have a fair shot at winning. They aren't very conservative Republicans and they don't manage to buck liberal trends very often, but still, Republicans can't be counted out entirely in those states.