According to one account, there is effectively no republican party in California these days. What is left of the party is ineffective, scattered and leaderless. In many respects, this description applies equally to the condition of the GOP nationwide.
The ongoing divisions trouble longtime GOP members who are old enough to have served during the party's glory days. Stuart Spencer, a trusted political adviser to Ronald Reagan during his governorship and presidency, questions how Reagan would have fared in a California GOP primary today. Reagan, he said, was about putting together a "big tent for Republicans," wanting to leave room for moderates in his party who occasionally strayed from absolute fealty to conservative ideals. "I'm not sure he could win an election here today; he wasn't that kind of conservative," Spencer said. He added: "Now, if the far right here doesn't like the way somebody has voted on one or two issues, on taxes, they're against them." [Washington Post]
In an article primarily describing the troubles on the left coast, certain observations about Governor Schwarzenegger and a state assemblyman echo concerns being felt by incumbent republicans, and those supported by the establishment, in other parts of America as well.
Schwarzenegger rallied to the assemblyman's side at an Adams fundraiser, which merely threw gasoline on the conservatives' fire. The recall effort moved forward. Adams could not quite believe what was happening -- particularly that he had been spurned by the very people to whom, he said, he had devoted his career. He saw the turmoil as symptomatic of a drive coming from "Taliban purist elements" of his party, he said.
"It hurts, but there is a new push by the purists out there," he observed. "This recall [effort] isn't helping Republicans, if you ask me. And we as a party already have problems enough in this state without this."
There are certainly benefits to the movement by staunch conservatives to bring the GOP to heel. But as this article points out, there might be some unintended consequences too.
A few facts reveal just how far the Republican Party has fallen in California.
A Republican hasn't carried the state in a presidential contest since 1988. The last time a California GOP candidate won a U.S. Senate election was in the same decade. Nowadays, Republicans' share of the state's registered voters has shrunk to 31 percent, a historic low.
"There are large parts of the state where the party is irrelevant," said Allan Hoffenblum, a well-known California political analyst who has been a campaign manager for Republicans in the state. "It's not even a statewide party, really."
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