I think therein lies the basis for disagreement. In California elections, it is not about convincing liberals to vote Republican. That is the same mistake that the RINOs make every time, thinking they need to move further and further to the left (although it may be intentional given the past liberal CRP Chair calling for a "purple party"). When given the choice between a liberal(R) and a liberal(D), liberals and democrats vote for "the real thing" -- their own.
There are over 23 million people in California eligible to vote. Only 17 million of those are registered. And only 10 million or so bother to vote. Conservatives come out to vote when there is something to vote FOR or someone who gets their attention. And that is how/when Republicans win. A choice between Meg and Jerry was no choice at all. When RINOs like Meg win, we are often worse off than with Dems as proven by Schwarzenegger who accomplished more for the liberal agenda than any democrat could have dreamed of.
I know the above was not your central point, but the parenthetical comment you made is simply not true. DoughtyOne mentioned Bill Simon; there are others. As I mentioned, the statistics and analysis has been posted on FR many times. If you need for us to go dig them up and rehash the whole thing here in order to stop posting the "conservatives can't win in CA" mantra, I guess we could do that.
I did wonder if this second point was your argument. That is why I followed up with the comment “I think you are making the argument that CA is more conservative than it looks. “ at #33. I would say it is a hard sell point that there is a large % of conservative (potential) voters in CA that let ding-dongs like Boxer get reelected every six years (since 1992 I think) because they are waiting for that conservative candidate that never gets nominated by the RINO party. At some point a pain threshold will be met.
Most would conclude that CA Republican party nominates RINOs to begin with, because it is a liberal state, and the Republicans there are primarily RINOs. ( I feel safe identifying CA as liberal.) I know for certain that is what is going on in MD, because I always ask others here their views and Republicans here LOVED McCain.
Voters are fleeing CA and I think it would be Republicans more than Democrats.
I was arguing that trying to convince llarge groups of liberals in states like NY to suddenly vote conservative wont work, and that Republicans acting as liberals backfires on them (My main point) just to make clear.
SickOfLibs, let me explain why this point is so important to Conservative Californians. You’re a good guy and I don’t want you thinking I don’t believe that.
It has been a long time since a Republican candidate come to California and waged a real effort to win the state. Just waging the fight is an important part of Conservatism.
How can we expect California’s voters to fully understand the Conservative message if that message is never fully expressed and defended in-state?
Bob Dole, George Bush, John McCain, these guys didn’t come to the state and give it their best shot to win. Instead they came to the state for several mega-bucks dinner fundraisers, then promptly fled the state to spend those campaign bucks elsewhere.
We haven’t had the big full-bore all out effot to win the state in twenty years or more. That means that we haven’t had the big add buys in the state. We haven’t had the state media covering a Republican campaigning through the state. We haven’t had a Conservative message expressed in-state.
During this same period of time, at every election cycle, the Democrats have campaigned progressively within the state. They spread their message far and wide, and nothing is spoken in the public arena here to refute the Liberal talking points.
What do you think would happen if the Republicans implemented this game plan in every state?
Within one decade the Republican party would cease to exist. The Democrats would have about 75 to 80% of the seats in Congress, and the White House all to themselves.
It’s foolish not to remain competitive in California. The RP abandoned (surrendered) it, and us along with it.
Angry doesn’t begin to express my thoughts on what has taken place since. As goes California, so goes the nation.
We have seen it. We are seeing more and more evidence of it all the time. The Republican party has for all intents and purposes surrendered across the board. California is not the only place what I have been describing has been taking place.
Our brain-trusts lament not being able to win big general election victories, and yet they have been content to spot the Democrats 52 electoral votes each election.
Our party is stuck on stupid.