Yesterday the Los Angeles Times “Politi-Cal” politics blog carried a story by ace reporter Seema Mehta talking about how, at their convention this weekend, California Democrats are looking at changing their rules so that local caucuses of Democrat leaders can gather and endorse candidates for Congress and the State Legislature. Thanks to the “reforms” given to us with the passage of Proposition 14, political parties can no longer use the June election as a mechanism for their registered party members to hold a primary.
At the State GOP convention last month a coalition made up primarily of federal and state legislative leaders passed a plan that takes a much different course than the Democrats. Under the GOP’s new rules, it is a very restrictive process for the party to support a candidate before the June election (it takes a 2/3rds vote of every County Central Committee that overlaps a part of a district and then a 2/3rds vote of the State Party Board of Directors —trust me, very difficult hoops through which to jump).
So, it is very possible after this weekend that the California Republican Party will have an arm tied behind its back, largely frozen out of pre-June electioneering, while the CDP will be able to weigh in early. Given that a political party isn’t even guaranteed a spot in a November runoff, this seems imprudent. That said, my conscience is clear — I made the case (along with a broad coalition of folks) for a process that would make it easier for the State Republican Party to engage early. The only good news is that it appears that many county GOP committees are changing their bylaws to endorse early, which will mitigate some of the advantage that the Democrats will have if they move forward with their endorse-by-caucus plans this weekend.
(The LA Times article references a decision by the California GOP to go to an all-mail Republican ballot for 2014 and beyond. This is smoke and mirrors — a sweetener added by those opposing caucuses, but no one I have talked to believes is doable without a humongous, unrealistic price tag.)