However, I'm not so sure that Bill Simon faces the same situation today that Ronald Reagan did in 1966. Regretably, the California that produced Reagan and Nixon is long gone. Middle-class Anglos and Asians, bedrock of the CA Republican Party, have left the state in droves for nearly twenty years now. In 1966 Orange County and Bakersfield defined California; now Marin County and East LA fill that role.
Nonetheless, it appears Simon is doing a good job with the hand that's been dealt him. Perhaps he'll stop California's decline and prevent it from becoming "Massachusetts with palm trees." That's a tall order, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.
By the way, although I recognize that California has changed dramatically over the past twenty years, I am not one of those who suggest that Republicans "moderate" their views to fit the new "reality." On the contrary -- it's our duty to present an intelligent, practical alternative to the base leftism promoted by the Democrats and Rockefeller Republicans. Bill Simon seems reasonably comfortable doing that, and I wish him well. Perhaps California is not yet as far gone as I fear.
"LG"