I read an article in the Oakland Tribune today. I know Oakland, I’ve been to church there, and, trust me, there aren’t many Republicans in Oakland. The article said that Republican party candidates were campaigning in Oakland for the delegates available there.
When I visited there, and visited a church in South Central, I heard the same complaint from both pastors, both of whom were Republicans. Both of them said, how can you expect us to stand up for Republicans. When we do, they said, the local political operation turned against them, and made their life difficult. One fellow had a Bush sign up in his store window in the 1992 election, and someone broke his store window. The Republicans response? Nothing. No help, no defense, no response, no nothing. The pastor said we couldn’t expect any help from people if we didn’t stand with them when they were standing with us.
That got me thinking. How are we going to get Republicans interested in places in California that are dominated by Democrats? Legislators won’t do it, there is nothing in it for them. Local candidates won’t do it. They are lost causes, and the party did little or nothing to help them. Statewide candidates won’t do it. They need to spend their money and their time in places where they can get the most bang for their buck, i.e., the most votes for the money they spend, and that is not in South Central, Oakland, the Bay Area, or Downtown LA. So, if Republicans never show up in these areas, how do you build the party there?
Then it occurred to me that a primary fight in each of these districts would get the attention of some voters, however, many of these districts were so hard to win that finding one candidate to run in those districts was a challenge, two candidates was impossible. The only primary that would make a difference is the presidential primary, where, in many states, delegates to the national convention were awarded on a winner-take-all by congressional district. Given the number of delegates that were at stake in California, presidential candidates would campaign throughout the state, and people who had never seen a Republican would suddenly be introduced to Republicans and their philosophy by the next President of the United States. The push to create an organization to get votes would leave a Republican structure that, over time, would build our party everywhere throughout the state.
And now, it is happening. Romney, McCain, Guiliani, Huckabee, anyone who wants to pick up a chunk of California’s 170+ delegates will campaign in every part of the state to maximize their return, and thousands of voters who have never heard a Republican candidate, will hear our message directly from our standard bearers, instead of filtered through the screen of the local media, or the local Democrat operatives.
That is how you build a party.