(California) State GOP losing ground

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

With their registrations sinking and their political clout withering, California Republicans have come out of the November election in danger of slipping into political irrelevance across much of the state.

"There's been a broad repudiation of traditional conservative Republicans in California," said Tony Quinn, a former GOP analyst and co-editor of the California Target Book, which focuses on political contests in the state. "There are almost no areas in the state that can be considered safely Republican anymore."

Since 2004, Republican registration has dropped by more than 317,000 in the state, while Democrats have picked up 563,000 new voters. Five previously GOP counties, including San Joaquin, Stanislaus and San Bernardino, now have more Democrats than Republicans.

... "Individual Republicans can win if they can self-finance (their campaigns), be socially libertarian and fiscally conservative," Quinn said. "That means they can't be hostile to gays and need to be at least moderately pro-choice."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/07/BANA14I7MF.DTL&tsp=1

[LeftyMom]

1. They had ground left to lose?

They're only competitive in a few regional pockets and gerrymandered districts.

[Mz Pip]

3. The CA GOP

has held the state hostage for all too long. Even with the Democrats having a majority in CA, we need a 2/3 majority to pass the budget. They are inflexible on raising any taxes. I think even Arnold is getting annoyed with them.

[CreekDog]

10. they say GOP legislators won't answer Arnold's phone calls to them

:eyes:

[shanti]

8. orange county

would hardly be considered a "pocket", but i'd wager they are turning more dem too.

[Cha]

2. Good..because they live in a fauxsn00ze-

non reality, propagandistic world.

[muntrv]

4. Awwwwwwwwww!!!!!

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[CitizenPatriot]

5. their registrations went down a lot after that Puke got busted

for committing fraud by registering people as "republicans" when they thought they were signing up to help abused children. He got caught in CA and two other states a month or so before the election. GOP operative, paid by the RNC I believe.

Many of their "registered voters" were never Republicans, they only did this to generate fake enthusiasm so donors would be more inclined to think CA was a viable option. Remember when the freepers thought they were gonna take CA? Ha ha....They were lied to by their own party. How sad.

[Enthusiast]

6. We can only hope this trend

continues in other states.

[CreekDog]

11. CA sets lots of trends

we used to vote Republican a couple of decades ago.

[slackmaster]

14. I think it would be wise to take a longer view of this "trend"

If you look at the historical statistics, you will see that the increase in Democratic registrations in California does not match the long-term trend of people bailing out of both major parties. For much of the last 16 years, the Democratic Party has been bleeding members at about twice the rate of the state GOP.

More and more people in California are going independent. The gerrymandering that has allowed both parties to create "safe" seats in the state legislature is the core problem. Members from both parties have no need to be responsive to the voters, and outsiders don't stand a chance in the primary elections. Fortunately we have a chance to make that go away in 2010, with the passage of Proposition 11 this year.

http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror/ror-pages/60day-presgen-08/ror-090508.htm

[MasonJar]

7. I hope tha means the governator goes with them. Also how did they

pass prop 8 if they are so powerless?

[shanti]

9. because it wasn't

just repukes who voted yes on 8, just like it wasn't just repukes who voted the ahnuld in!

[Mz Pip]

13. True

I know a couple of people who voted for Arnold because they thought it would be cool to have the "Terminator" for governor.

The recall was stupid but when you have over 200 names on the ballot the low information voters will gravitate towards a name they recognize. :shrug:

Arnold is hardly the worst Republican governor we've had. I think that honor might go to Reagan.

[XemaSab]

12. Don't kid yourselves, Bay Area voters

Large swathes of the state are FIRMLY republican.