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The California Republican party consists of at least three groups: the hard-core conservatives who stayed home when Bob Dole got the nomination; the moderate conservatives who are not big on the issues but vote Republican; the country-club, big tent Republicans who are vocally pro-abort.

Abortion is unquestionably the most divisive issue. Conservative pro-lifers will NEVER vote for a strong pro-abort. Moderate conservatives think other issues are more important. Country-clubbers are adamantly pro-abort. Something has to give, and IMHO it's the fat-cat country-clubbers. They will never win California again if they keep trying to push their pro-abort views down the throat of the party. They are the ones who need to compromise. They need to choose whether abortion is so important to them that they are willing to keep electing people like Gray Davis who will wreck the state's economy.

Simon didn't run a bad campaign. He needed money to get around the media blackout, and he didn't get it. I fault Karl Rove AND the local RINOs, who promised Rove they would produce big money for the party and then reneged when Riordan was shot down. Riordan never would have won if he had gotten the nomination, because the conservatives would have all stayed home. The Fat Cats have to understand that.

The man who finally destroyed the California Republican party was Pete Wilson, a big-tent, pro-abort RINO. He and his friends are NOT the answer. These guys have got to compromise a little if the Dems are ever to be defeated again out there.

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Riordan never would have won if he had gotten the nomination, because the conservatives would have all stayed home

Always nice to hear from folks like you who live in outerspace. Riordan would have cleaned Davis's clock. That's why Davis spent $9 million to handpick Simple Simon to run against ...and beat. And for your information, the conservatives did stay home yesterday. Check out the vote totals.