You are making the erroneous assumption that there is a static universe of voters in each election who change their minds and switch back and forth between parties depending upon idealogies.
That is not what happens. That is not how offices change hands. The fact is that just over half of all eligible voters ever bother to vote, half of all conservative, half of all liberals, half of all, gunners, homeschoolers, prolifers etc.
When elections (even landslides) are won by less than 10%, imagine what would happen if every single conservative voted in an election? We would sweep every office on the ballot. That's how you make a difference and that is how governors' offfices and senate seats change hands. A candidate comes along that piques the interest of one or more constituencies. Interested supporters then register to vote and turn out in droves on election day.
What has happened in California in recent years is that conservatives have been disillusioned by the candidates at the top of the ticket. Now imagine what would happen if we had a Reaganesque candidate as our nominee in November. Imagine that.
Imagine that his name is Bill Simon. Imagine indeed. Now wake up. Its not a dream. Lets get him the nomination and the press folks' jaws will be hanging on the floor this fall, as they were in 1994 when Newt took over the House of Representatives. Wouldn't that be nice?