It was a Republican tsunami nationwide, that turned into a riptide when it hit California, and sucked the Republicans in this state into the ocean.  The question is why?  How could a year that began with so much promise fall apart so completely?

The loss was complete.  Even if Steve Cooley is able to pull out of his embarrassing showing against the weakest Democrat ever to run for Attorney General, it is no great victory.  $140 million for Governor, and other millions for the various other seats.  Never has so much been spent on so few to accomplish so little.  We could have all gone home, watched football, saved the money, and still done just as well as we did in this election.  What went wrong?

I have my own theories, and they begin with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Meg Whitman began her campaign sounding like Schwarzenegger, and ended up losing.  Schwarzenegger has given the Republicans a bad name in California.  The country showed its dislike of Obama by voting against his candidates throughout the country.  The state showed its dislike of Schwarzenegger by voting against Republicans.

On a national level, Republicans didn’t win.  Democrats lost.  In this state, Democrats didn’t win, Republicans lost.  This state’s voters are so disgusted with Schwarzenegger that they show their displeasure with every Republican. 

We also see it with the historic low registration numbers for Republicans statewide.  31% isn’t a party, it’s a small social gathering, only in the case of Republicans, it’s more like a family gathering where nobody likes each other.  We have spent so much time arguing with each other that we forgot that the neighbors were listening, and they kicked us out of the neighborhood when we weren’t looking.

So, what do we do?  Well, six years ago, I proposed the "Adopt a District" plan, a plan to get our elected legislators to work on growing the party outside of their district.  Since it requires our elected officials to actually work, it really hasn’t gotten off the ground.  Now, however, it is a matter of their own survival.  When the redistricting is done this time around, if the legislators haven’t worked outside their current district, they may just lose their seat.

The next thing to do is put together a coherent, cohesive set of principles to bind the party together, and set common goals to achieve, on principle and tactically.  We can be confident that the Democrats in the Legislature will destroy this state.  Brown will be a lot like Davis, and he will try to resist them, but he will capitulate, and when he does, the state will begin a downward spiral of epic proportions.  Republicans need to be ready to fill the gap, philosophically and tactically.  Our recovery as a party will require hard work, focus, clarity of thought, and an aggressive effort to convince voters that the Republican agenda is what is best for their lives.  Democrats will spend the next two to four years convincing voters (by their actions) that they are inept, incompetent, and a little corrupt.  Republicans need to compare and contrast who they are with who the Democrats are at every turn.

Or, we can just whine, complain, tuck our tail between our legs, and lick our wounds.  Moderates can blame conservatives, conservatives can blame moderates.  We can have internecine wars to the death in our party conventions, and activists can send dirty, nasty little emails to Republicans throughout the state about whoever the party leaders are to satisfy their own "big fish in little pond" power grabs.  We can do all the things we have done in the past.  We can keep doing the same thing we have been doing, and we will keep getting the same thing we been getting.

Or, we can work our butts off, and turn this state around.  I for one will choose the "work our butts off" strategy.  Suits me more than whining, or listening to others whine, but, that’s just me.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 6th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.