Recently, some Republican leaders were noted in the press as having the goal of transforming California into a ‘purple’ (or ‘swing’ state) rather than into a red (safe Republican) state. The presumption behind this thought is that given the raw registration numbers, the ideological numbers, and the current gerrymandered districts, it’s a more attainable goal to move the state into the push column rather than establish political hegemony. 

I agree, at least for the foreseeable future. While total victory is an admirable goal under most circumstances, there are circumstances where one’s strategic interests and the actual situation on the ground dictates a less comprehensive short or medium term solution. For the California Republican Party simply being in the game to run the government would be an enormous victory. And for our national party, forcing the Democrats to view California as a swing state and spend tens of millions of dollars to defend it in Presidential, Senate, and Congressional elections, would be a blessing. 

I’ve had brief discussions on this issue with a few more or less brainy campaign and strategy gurus around the state over the last few days in anticipation of having the write this commentary early Sunday morning (This being my second Father’s Day, you see, I am already salivating wildly at the thought of the mounds of rare meat that I intend to work through like a threshing machine from about 10am on wards. In those few moments where I am not using both hands and perhaps a stick to shove additional cow down into my surprisingly roomy gullet, I intend to loll without appreciable movement by the side of a pool and listen to WWII stories). Anyhow… I basically asked them about the basic strategic situation in California in the context of blue v. purple v. red and here’s where they agreed:

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This entry was posted on Saturday, June 17th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.