NYT Monday front page: 'Republican Party in California Is Caught in Cycle of Decline'

[Newsjock]

Source: New York Times

... Registered Republicans now account for just 30 percent of the California electorate, and are on a path that analysts predict could drop them to No. 3 in six years, behind Democrats, who currently make up 43 percent, and independent voters, with 21 percent.

“It’s no longer a statewide party,” said Allan Hoffenblum, who worked for 30 years as a Republican consultant in California. “They are down to 30 percent, which makes it impossible to win a statewide election. You just can’t get enough crossover voters.”

“They have alienated large swaths of voters,” he said. “They have become too doctrinaire on the social issues. It’s become a cult.”

... “The institution of the California Republican Party, I would argue, has effectively collapsed,” said Steve Schmidt, a Republican consultant who was a senior adviser to Mr. Schwarzenegger. “It doesn’t do any of the things that a political party should do. It doesn’t register voters. It doesn’t recruit candidates. It doesn’t raise money. The Republican Party in the state institutionally has become a small ideological club that is basically in the business of hunting out heretics.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/us/politics/california-republicans-seek-a-turnaround.html

[Fridays Child]

1. Well, damn!

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. And may the nation follow this lead.

[xxqqqzme]

3. We are even seeing

cracks in the rethug foundation here behind the Orange Curtain.

[shanti]

4. you sure wouldn't be able to tell

by reading the comments on the sacramento bee! the winger sockpuppets number dems at least 3 to 1.

[kestrel91316]

5. As goes California, so goes the nation. We are usually in the

vanguard. I hope that applies to this situation.

[Politicalboi]

6. We need to get rid of

Darryl Assa ASAP.

[Raine]

7. This makes me so proud of my state! :-) nt