California Republicans Prepare For 2010

It's Ronald Reagan's birthday.

Born February 6th, 1911, 98 years ago. California's greatest political son remains the only California Governor ever to serve as U.S. President.

With Ronald Reagan ever in the background, California Republicans attempt in the 2009-2010 election cycle to pick themselves up and challenge for both the Boxer U.S. Senate seat and the open gubernatorial seat.

The California Republican Party (CRP) conventions are held twice a year, alternating between north (Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose) and south (Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, the Palm Springs area). Sometimes Central CA / Fresno, occasionally the coastal areas like Santa Barbara or Monterrey.

CRP Chairman Ron Nehring, freshly back from the RNC meetings in which RNC National Committeeman and Committeewoman Shawn Steel and Linda Ackerman joined Chairman Nehring in warmly welcoming the election of Michael Steele, has put together a superb program for the Feb 20-22 conclave.

Scheduled speakers include outstanding conservative thinker and Reagan Administration cabinet member Bill Bennett, conservative CA leader and past gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon, State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, former EBay CEO Meg Whitman, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, former Ambassador John Bolton, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Congressman Darrell Issa, Congressman Tom McClintock, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, radio talk show host Larry Elder, and many other high profile Republican leaders.

Results from the new quarterly statewide Capitol Weekly/Probolsky Research California Poll released late this week and published online at Capitol Weekly indicate that:

• The economy is the top concern of California voters by a wide margin
• Californian voters are willing to relax environmental regulations for infrastructure in order to take full advantage of Federal Stimulus Funds
• Governor Schwarzenegger gets low marks for job performance
• Democratic voters throw their weight behind Feinstein's potential run for Governor
• Republican potential Gubernatorial candidates Tom Campbell and Meg Whitman lead their rivals
• Nearly a majority of Californians support a "top-two" Primary Election system
• One-half of Californians support the idea of a part-time legislature

These results are just a snapshot in time, but they indicate a very unhappy electorate, perhaps ripe for dramatic change (a part-time legislature would be change) and open to political reform, although not necessarily all the reform GOP loyalists might desire.

Expect substantive attention to the state's budget crises, relevant policy discussion, and plenty of good old fashioned politics kicking off at the CRP Convention.

Especially interesting will be the convention reactions to the three putative gubernatorial candidates. Many GOP donors and activists have been concerned that Jerry Brown, the former state Governor and now Attorney General, could prove formidable as the 2010 Democrat nominee. However, would it not be back to the future, rather than change, to re-elect a governor first elected after Ronald Reagan, in 1975? That is quite a few political lifetimes ago.

All eyes will be on Republican Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, former CEO of EBay Meg Whitman, and former Rep. Tom Campbell. Apparently all efforts by insiders to have these talented candidates run for different statewide offices have failed, resulting in a potentially very tough GOP primary, with the bruised winner potentially facing Senator Diane Feinstein, if she enters the Democrat primary race.

State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore remains the leading, and well-endorsed, early announced candidate for the U.S. Senate seat.