[T]he Wall Street Journal argues that Gov. Pete Wilson made the Republican party a minority party in California by running against illegal immigration. Wilson was unpopular for most of his first term. In 1994, he campaigned for an initiative to deny government benefits to illegal immigrants. That initiative won handily, and what had appeared to be a tough re-election battle for him turned out to be a cakewalk. The Journal concedes as much, but claims that the campaign left a bitter aftertaste. Yet Wilson left office popular.It is true that the Republican who tried to succeed him, Dan Lungren, lost big. But Lungren ran away from Wilson’s immigration politics, even supporting bilingual education as the state voted it down. Nor do the numbers suggest that Lungren’s defeat was a result of Wilson’s having enraged Hispanics who then registered to vote. The Republican share of the gubernatorial vote dropped 17 points between 1994 and 1998. The percentage of Hispanics in the electorate did not rise nearly enough to explain that drop. Hispanics were 11.4 percent of California voters in 1994 and 13.9 percent of them in 1998.
The only time Republicans have won statewide in recent years, they have benefited from popular concern about — yes, illegal immigration. George W. Bush’s positions on immigration did not bring him to victory in California in 2000 or 2004. Democrat Gray Davis became unpopular, and Arnold Schwarzenegger succeeded him, in part because Davis had allowed illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses and Schwarzenegger opposed that policy...
Good posting...
The local Republican central committees in California were also infiltrated and taken over by liberals.
These RINO country club types were aghast that they might actually have to hire an American.
Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus