Prior to that California had been reliably Republican, 1964 the exception, since 1952.
Prior to that California had voted Republican 14 out of 25 presidential elections.
Second dumbest, IMO — the dumbest was not following through on his plan to abolish the Department of Education.
(I heard someone speculate that his desire to eliminate the Dept. of Education is what got him shot — in any case, the Dept. of Education has always been a prime target for the anti-American, anti-moral, Communist and Globalist types… any one of theses groups would have reason to shoot him over the possibility of losing such a invaluable indoctrination resource.)