HEAVY HITTERS SNUB CALIFORNIA GOP MEET – AT 10:54 A.M. ET:  One of the greatest weaknesses in the Republican Party is that its state organizations, if they exist at all, are often seen as bad jokes.  In New York the party is basically a skeleton, a paper power, which waits for some major Republican figure to put some meat on the bones.  In California, the most populous state, the party is...well, get this, from The Politico:

LOS ANGELES - The front-runners in the GOP presidential race were nowhere to be found as California Republicans met in Los Angeles over the weekend, giving underdog candidates a chance to press their argument that the nation will recover from its economic malaise only by shrinking government to the bounds of the Constitution.

The crowd at the state party convention - as usual dominated by the more conservative elements in the GOP - warmly received U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Ron Paul of Texas.

When the frontrunners won't even show up at a state convention in the most populous state, a message is being sent.  This isn't the California GOP of Ronald Reagan.  Ron Paul won its straw poll. 

California is now a reliably Democratic state.  That won't change until the party broadens its base, and understands that, as one of my professors taught, a major purpose of a party is to "organize the electorate."  Making ideological points is fine for movements and social clubs. 

To add insult to injury, Mitt Romney was campaigning in California while the convention was on.  Talk about a snub.  Rich Perry was in Iowa. 

California, once the golden state, is a mess in so many ways.  An eccentric Republican Party, which should be winning elections from the incompetent Democrats, isn't making things any better.

September 18, 2011