Congratulations to the California Republican Party on a great convention. I’ll echo previous posts by affirming that the general mood at convention was upbeat and optimistic. Considering the state of the GOP nationwide, and grassroot contempt for the GOP’s participation in California’s massive tax increase, Republicans are looking to 2010 as a year of redemption. 2010 holds a lot of promise for California Republicans. Schwarzenegger will be exiting the stage, mid-term elections usually favor the minority party, and there’s an impressive bench of candidates ready to woo the party faithful in our primary.
As a woman, I am very excited to see two strong female candidates contemplating bids for governor and senate. Meg Whitman had quite a presence at convention, with ubiquitous signs and stickers, a speech at a convention meal, and a reception with Mitt Romney. With such endorsements from Romney, Darrell Issa, Tony Strickland, and other legislators, Whitman is building a broad support base quickly. Although she hasn’t declared her intentions yet, Carly Fiorina was also making the rounds at convention and delivered an impressive speech at the CRA’s meeting Saturday afternoon.
Having such appealing candidates (articulate, successful and self-funding) bodes well for the party’s efforts to draw in female voters. Ultimately, voter support will be based on the positions of all the candidates, including Steve Poizner and Chuck DeVore, but it’s still encouraging to have viable female candidates in the mix. As one of my friends observed, “Women will be the saviors of the Republican Party.” 2010 may just be the Year of the Woman.
Of all the people I didn’t expect to see at convention, I was surprised by the presence of at least three of the six legislators who voted for the tax-increasing budget. Assemblymen Roger Niello and Anthony Adams and Senator Abel Maldonado all made appearances at the Hyatt.
If they were looking for absolution, that was denied by the convention’s passage of FR’s own illustrious publisher’s resolution. Jon’s resolution to deny state GOP aid to the tax-increasing Republican legislators passed handily on the floor Sunday morning.
The quote of the weekend was courtesy of one recipient of a volunteer award during the Sunday morning general session. Upon receiving her award, the 88 year-old woman (I apologize for not catching her name!) commented that the only thing she regretted in all her years of party work was “collecting petitions for Schwarzenegger.” The audience erupted with cheers and applause.
(Special thank you to all the Twitterers following my convention tweets. It was fun microblogging for you!)