I'll say this at the risk of incurring flames. The interesting thing to me is, with everyone from Newt to Rush blaming "republicanism" (vs. "conservatism"), that's exactly what California voted
FOR...with the exception of any R's that aren't, you know. Arnold type R's. People can spin it 100 different ways. (One more possible one: with enough people voting for Arnold, that must mean democrats in CA are turning right!
ugh) The bottom line is that CA isn't like everywhere else. And, I think Newt and Rush are correct in their assessment, but that's almost an afterthought here.
In conclusion, I think it's hard to mobilize a base that's given up.