FR friend Timm Herdt is an outstanding political writer over at the Ventura County Star. His column today is about the loss of Abel Maldonado and Kieth Richman in their primaries, and posits that this could be viewed as a failure by Governor Schwarzenegger to bring his moderate imprantur to his party. It’s posted on the main page, but I thought I’d highlight it here.
The column starts out:
Moderate Republicans in California, having watched their party become increasingly dominated by conservatives as it sunk deeper and deeper into minority status, had big hopes after Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor in 2003.
A new leader had arrived, one who because of a lightning strike of political good luck did not have to subject himself to the ideological litmus test of a statewide Republican primary. Just maybe, they thought, he could lead them out of the political wilderness.
Schwarzenegger, as they saw it, was their kind of Republican: supportive of abortion rights, receptive to gay-rights issues, tough-minded on taxes, sensitive to the environment, friendly to business and corporate interests.
With Schwarzenegger as the only Republican holding statewide office, they hoped that he would assert his role as the de facto party leader to help reshape a state party whose candidates had lost 17 of the previous 19 statewide elections.
It was not to be. Schwarzenegger made a conscious decision to steer clear of intra-party affairs. In 2004, at the height of his political popularity, he declined to make endorsements in contested legislative primaries, even when his backing might have resulted in sending more lawmakers to Sacramento who shared his political views.
A new leader had arrived, one who because of a lightning strike of political good luck did not have to subject himself to the ideological litmus test of a statewide Republican primary. Just maybe, they thought, he could lead them out of the political wilderness.
Schwarzenegger, as they saw it, was their kind of Republican: supportive of abortion rights, receptive to gay-rights issues, tough-minded on taxes, sensitive to the environment, friendly to business and corporate interests.
With Schwarzenegger as the only Republican holding statewide office, they hoped that he would assert his role as the de facto party leader to help reshape a state party whose candidates had lost 17 of the previous 19 statewide elections.
It was not to be. Schwarzenegger made a conscious decision to steer clear of intra-party affairs. In 2004, at the height of his political popularity, he declined to make endorsements in contested legislative primaries, even when his backing might have resulted in sending more lawmakers to Sacramento who shared his political views.
You can read the whole column here, including Keith Richman’s sour-grapes poke at the Governor at the end. Dr. Richman can go back to his medical practice in December, and tell how patients how much better off the Republican Party would be if only Democrats could vote in GOP primaries…