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CA: Republicans: What Went Wrong? (internal audit being conducted)
LA Times ^ | 11/21/06 | Robert Salladay

Posted on 11/21/2006 6:53:39 PM PST by NormsRevenge

The California Republican Party is conducting an internal audit over why its unprecedented $20 million get-out-the-vote effort didn't produce wins for their candidates on election day. Only Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and insurance commissioner Steve Poizner captured statewide offices for the GOP, which also failed to pick up any new seats in the Legislature. One Republican incumbent, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, was unseated.

Some conservative Republicans are demanding answers from the party. State Board of Equalization member Bill Leonard, who was reelected to his regional seat by a large margin, already has asked for the audit of the statewide effort. He has heard "rumors" that the GOP telephoned voters using scripts written by Schwarzenegger's team that only mentioned Schwarzenegger, that there was "mischief" with literature distributed on door-hangers in neighborhoods, and that the Republican Party may have called non-Republicans to encourage them to vote.

"... what is needed is full disclosure by the CRP leadership, a detailed political audit of how this campaign was waged. The party members, donors and volunteers deserve to know the full truth and the actual numbers."

--snip--

Mike Spence, another Republican activist, said other problems emerged during the get-out-the-vote effort: the GOP sparsely canvassed precincts in eastern Los Angeles County and an outreach program to churches "died wandering in the desert." He also has called for an audit. Spence said the conservative ideology of some Republicans, such as lieutenant governor candidate Tom McClintock, can't account for their losses. If so, he said, why did a moderate like McPherson not benefit from the get-out-the-vote message that swept Schwarzenegger to victory in a landslide?

California GOP chairman Duf Sundheim said he thinks the $20 million effort proved effective, particularly in early voting by mail. ...

(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: cagop; california; election; elections; republicans
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To: Amerigomag

Hey, here in Texas, I got a call from Bill Clinton! Automated of course, but they had pulled all the stops out--in Texas. The main problem? NO LEADERSHIP, no gonads, pure wusses in the GOP, time after time gave ground, never fought for a damned thing that I can remember, not one issue.

They had lots of opportunities to go after some real criminal activity on the Dems side but nope, too cowardly. And now they've sold our troops down the sewer and my son is to be deployed back to Iraq after the first of the year for the second time, I'm telling you, someone will feel my wrath, this country does not deserve these servicemen and women. The GOP wonks needs to be run out of the country and rebuilt from the ground up.


41 posted on 11/21/2006 9:18:54 PM PST by brushcop (Men of B-Co 2/69 3ID, do you now feel betrayed after all your efforts & sacrifices in Iraq?)
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To: FairOpinion
The so-called conservatives, once again, defeated themselves, gave victory to the Democrats,

So called ? Ha ha Rinold is to the left of Hitlery Clinton and she's no moderate. Tired of your stupid comments.
42 posted on 11/21/2006 9:22:41 PM PST by John Lenin (The most dangerous place for a child in America is indeed in its mother's womb)
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To: NormsRevenge
The stupidity is astonishing.

Why would true "Republicans" (read: "conservatives") bother to come out and vote, especially when the "Republican" at the top of the ticket is a Democrat? Add to that conservatives' mentality of "hunker-down-and-just-try-to-survive-in-this-looney-state", together with the surrender-monkey "moderate" (read: "liberal") state Republican party leadership and the answer is pretty stinking obvious. It all boils down to hopelessness.

They need an audit for this??

43 posted on 11/21/2006 9:23:18 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: bboop
I got so many phone calls (actually, I got one today asking for my contribution, that it finally backfired on them. I just don't feel like giving the CaGop a cent!
44 posted on 11/21/2006 9:24:39 PM PST by republican4ever (Israel's fate determines the fate of the world, whether we believe and like it or not.)
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To: NormsRevenge
which also failed to pick up any new seats in the Legislature

California's legislative districts are extremely gerrymandered--Democrats dominate the legislature because the Republicans are concentrated in relatively few districts, and those are the seats that Democrats couldn't win if the Republican was a transgendered Nazi serial killer. If you're not of the correct party, you have no chance of winning the election. The interesting fights are primaries for open seats.

45 posted on 11/21/2006 9:27:19 PM PST by BeHoldAPaleHorse (I dare call it treason.)
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To: FairOpinion
Steve Poizner is the de facto nominee for governor in 2010 by virtue of being a moderate

Dead in the water.

46 posted on 11/21/2006 9:29:46 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: calcowgirl
It says Republican counties, and doesn't mention conservatives.

Orange County and San Bernadino County are Republican counties. They are also conservative counties. Quit trying to pretend that conservatives showed up in record numbers; they didn't. Turnout was pretty light in my (extremely conservative) district.

47 posted on 11/21/2006 9:29:52 PM PST by BeHoldAPaleHorse (I dare call it treason.)
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To: bpjam
or the Dem candidate exposes himself prematurely as a totally corrupt fraud

Sorry, no sale. That stuff has never bothered Democrat voters.
They simply don't care who hands them "free stuff".

48 posted on 11/21/2006 9:32:15 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: Lancey Howard
Yeah... they need an audit. Not only were Republicans demoralized for many reasons, but it looks like the $20 million GOTV effort actually went to mobilize liberals. Since the Governor was bound and determined to get his $43 Billion big-borrowing-Bonanza passed, and to defeat the eminent domain measure, you can be sure they weren't "microtargeting" conservative homeowners. Here is the full blog post from Bill Leonard:
***Call for Full Discloure***
By: Bill Leonard on: Monday, November 20th, 2006

A state Democrat blog last week had this headline: “CDP Field Operation Defeats $20 Million GOP Elephant.” Indeed, as the above results show, statewide Republican candidates did not fare well. Yet the CRP and the Governor had touted this year’s Victory ’06 effort as the end-all, be-all of voter identification and activation. I had been excited about it. I saw what microtargeting accomplished for the President in Ohio two years ago and was eager to replicate that success in California. That excitement faded as results were tallied.

Accusations have been flying that the CRP’s Victory ’06 was actually Arnold ’06, Period. I have heard that the CRP’s phone banks used scripts written by and for the Governor, leaving the rest of the ticket unmentioned. There are rumors that there was mischief with CRP door-hangars because the Governor and the party disagreed over ballot measures. There is concern that the Victory ’06 GOTV effort focused on voters who may not even have been Republicans. At this point, such accusations remain just that: undocumented statements with a tinge of bitterness following a brutal defeat of most of the party ticket. Therefore, what is needed is full disclosure by the CRP leadership, a detailed political audit of how this campaign was waged. The party members, donors and volunteers deserve to know the full truth and the actual numbers. Specifically, how did the CRP spend $20 million? How many voters were contacted, by whom, where were they, and what message was delivered to them? Can we identify why some of our biggest GOP counties appear to have had a much lower GOP turnout than usual? Did the party organizations there rely on Victory ’06 to turn-out the base instead of their usual, grassroots effort? This Dem blog said the CDP “contacted 521,622 voters and personally visited 424,354 homes to seek their support of the Democratic Ticket.” What are the CRP’s numbers, and can we honestly say that contact from the CRP included support for the Republican ticket?


49 posted on 11/21/2006 9:32:16 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: BeHoldAPaleHorse
Turnout was pretty light in my (extremely conservative) district.

Maybe if the GOP runs a real conservative they will come out to vote.
50 posted on 11/21/2006 9:33:54 PM PST by John Lenin (The most dangerous place for a child in America is indeed in its mother's womb)
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To: John Lenin
Maybe if the GOP runs a real conservative they will come out to vote.

I guess Chuck Poochigian isn't conservative enough to vote for, then, and that Jerry Brown is the "conservative" preference for Attorney General.

Oh, wait, that's right, Michael Wiener gave Moonbeam $5,600, the maximum donation allowed under state law.

51 posted on 11/21/2006 9:35:39 PM PST by BeHoldAPaleHorse (I dare call it treason.)
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To: BeHoldAPaleHorse

Arnold turned off the base, bigtime!


52 posted on 11/21/2006 9:36:38 PM PST by John Lenin (The most dangerous place for a child in America is indeed in its mother's womb)
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To: BeHoldAPaleHorse
Orange County and San Bernadino County are Republican counties. They are also conservative counties. Quit trying to pretend that conservatives showed up in record numbers; they didn't. Turnout was pretty light in my (extremely conservative) district.

Well, there are still a few hundred thousand ballots to count, but notwithstanding that, you are wrong.

As of this afternoon's count, San Diego County turned out 101,839 more voters than 2002. Orange County, 105,427. Riverside, 62,884. And San Bernardino, 29,228.

Earlier reports that these counties did not turn out were based on early ballot counts and any conclusions made from them were grossly premature.

On the other hand, the Democrat counties showed substantially greater turnout than the Republican counties. Was that because the Republican GOTV helped their effort by actually targeting Democrats-for-Arnold and Democrats-For-RebuildCalifornia? It sure looks that way.

53 posted on 11/21/2006 9:39:41 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: John Lenin

And, because Arnold turned off the base, they decided to inflict Jerry Brown on themselves, and they decided that Tom McClintock wasn't conservative enough to be Lt. Gov, and Dick Mountjoy was not a good choice to replace Feinstein...

In other words, "the base" is stupid AND crazy.

And that brings to mind a funny coincidence: "the base" translates to "al-Qaeda" in Arabic.


54 posted on 11/21/2006 9:42:46 PM PST by BeHoldAPaleHorse (I dare call it treason.)
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To: BeHoldAPaleHorse
I gritted my teeth and voted, I was going to use my vote as a protest and vote for Angelides. The other option was to stay home. I had no one representing me for Governor and that is a dangerous sign.
55 posted on 11/21/2006 9:45:29 PM PST by John Lenin (The most dangerous place for a child in America is indeed in its mother's womb)
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To: John Lenin
I gritted my teeth and voted, I was going to use my vote as a protest and vote for Angelides.

Uh-huh.

I had no one representing me for Governor and that is a dangerous sign.

No, you're saying you did: Angelides. Now I understand why Michael Wiener donated all that money to Jerry Brown.

56 posted on 11/21/2006 9:51:02 PM PST by BeHoldAPaleHorse (I dare call it treason.)
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To: BeHoldAPaleHorse
Now I understand why Michael Wiener donated all that money to Jerry Brown.

I'm starting to understand why he did too. Out of disgust for the CA GOP.
57 posted on 11/21/2006 9:53:53 PM PST by John Lenin (The most dangerous place for a child in America is indeed in its mother's womb)
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To: FairOpinion

You don`t seem to understand that sulking makes one pure, or is it pure ones sulk? Can`t decide so lets settle on this, sulking pure ones elect Democrats.


58 posted on 11/21/2006 9:56:02 PM PST by bybybill (`IF TH E RATS WIN, WE LOSE)
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To: John Lenin
I'm starting to understand why he did too. Out of disgust for the CA GOP.

Are you the sort who insists on paying full price for a car because you wanted a 25% discount and the dealer only offered you 10%?

59 posted on 11/21/2006 10:00:15 PM PST by BeHoldAPaleHorse (Republicans are told to court "the base," which translates to Arabic as "al-Qaeda.")
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To: BeHoldAPaleHorse

A dangerous precedent was set, a lot of people were not represented this election for Governor. It's like voting for a dictatorship, I have never felt so appalled to vote for a candidate.


60 posted on 11/21/2006 10:02:45 PM PST by John Lenin (The most dangerous place for a child in America is indeed in its mother's womb)
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