Our Golden State Presidential primary is quickly approaching — it’s just two weeks from tomorrow. In fact, to many Californians, election day has come and gone as so many now vote by absentee ballot!
It seems like most people understand that the California Republican Party has changed the way that delegates are allocated — and that we are no longer a state where whomever gets the most votes statewide is awarded all of our delegates. No, this system which ensured that former Governor Ronald Reagan took 100% of California’s delegates to the 1976 convention in an effort to challenge President Gerald Ford is no longer in place.
Or is it?
Back in the 2000 election cycle, many years ago, a change in the system was made by the State GOP with the hope that a new system would infuse more energy and activism into the Presidential primary in California. The idea was that if California was "in play" to figure out a way for Presidential contenders to come and campaign here — even if they could not afford the tremendous costs associated with a statewide effort here.
I remember a lot of discussion taking place among conservative leaders as to what kind of change would have the desired impact. Many of us advocated for some method of proportional representation (where if a candidate received a certain percent of the vote, they might get that percentage of the delegates). Others felt that this diluted California’s overall say in the process. In the end, as will happen in politics, we ended up with a compromise with some of the "establishment" folks who were representing then-presumptive GOP Presidential nominee George W. Bush…
The compromise took place in two forms. The first was an agreement NOT to have proportional representation, and the other was that these changes NOT go into effect for the 2000 elections.
So if we don’t have proportional representation, what DO we have? We have winner-take-all, by Congressional District.
What does that mean? It means that for over 90% of our delegates, the decision on to whom delegates are awarded is a local one.
We will have a delegation of 173 voting delegates going back to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul this summer. Of those, 159 of those are Congressional District Delegates, 11 of them are At-Large Statewide Delegates, and 3 of them are Super Delegates (this latter group consists of California’s three RNC Members — CRP Chairman Ron Nehring, National Committeeman Tim Morgan, and National Committeewoman Barbara Alby, the latter two of whom have four year terms, which go through the close of the National Convention).
**There is more – click the link**
January 21st, 2008 at 12:00 am
Who really cares about California Republican politics. There has not been a decent candidate since Regan.
As far as the legislature….Republicans are good at training pit bulls stopping the socialist onslaught, but never a leader who can go over the top.
The only bright spot and HOPE is Tom McClintock, but he is more and more looking like a “prophet” than a doer due to the country club Republicans shying away from financial reality to more of “lets all get along together”, a Rockafeller trait….
Well Globalists, see you at the 19th hole for a Tom Collins and a Monte Cristo…
In other words…any person with half a brain got you guys figured out….
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
Jon, I think you are incorrect. I think there is a very strong chance that the candidate who wins the plurality of the votes statewide will NOT be the same candidate who wins the bulk of the delegates.
That is not an unintended consequence. That is part of the beauty of the winner-take-all by Congressional District process. Every candidate has incentive to campaign here in California, even if they are behind in statewide polls. That’s what we want them to do. In order to encourage that sort of participation, which we have not seen in recent years, we are willing to give away a few delegates to the candidates who respond to this opportunity.
It is especially important for our Party to encourage Republicans to campaign and build networks in the parts our California where there are very few Republicans. We tend to ignore those areas completely, so there are many people who have never seen a Republican or heard Republican ideas. Thanks to this rule, many new people will hear our message for the first time. That’s a good thing.
And one last point, California’s delegate selection method is not a radical concept. MOST states have always done things this way — and most still do.