GOP Brand Dead in Deep-Blue California?

The Republican Party, as a brand, is dead in California.

That’s the eye-opening consensus of a crowd of political observers, lawmakers and strategists – Democrats and Republicans – gathered at a UC Berkeley symposium this weekend to mull over California’s defiantly blue status in the wake of a conservative tide that swept the nation in November.

Many of the 200 attendees at the two-day Institute of Governmental Studies conference appeared surprisingly unified on one issue: that, barring dramatic upheaval, the GOP’s prospects may be doomed in the voter-rich Golden State.

“Republicans, as a brand, are dead,” Duf Sundheim, the former state GOP chair, told the gathering Saturday.

Exhibit A: Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, who had racked up a string of election victories in nonpartisan offices. But Cooley lost the 2010 state attorney general’s race to San Francisco Democrat Kamala Harris. Why? “He had an ‘R’ after his name,” Sundheim said.

“There’s a brand problem,” agreed Republican Jim Brulte, former state Senate minority leader.

Here is what I wrote after the November election.

California with its ethnic and geographic segmentation has been a super Democratic state. But, on the other hand, it appears to be the only state so predisposed, along with New York. The Democratic Party has become a regional, ethnic, and two state party.

So, what will be the policy implications of these findings?

• I don’t think the national Republican Party will put too much money into California for statewide races any longer – at least for the foreseeable future.
• There will be a hardening of national GOP positions on illegal immigration, border security, and illegal alien amnesty.
• California will not be the recipient of much Congressionally generated pork or bailout monies.
• The California Republican Party will hunker down into a permanent minority roll and concentrate on winning Congressional and Legislative seats in “RED” districts while waiting for opportunities.
• California already known as business-unfriendly will be a jobs donor to other states who recruit California businesses.

California is in a deep blue hole and it may take decades to change – if ever.

But, the Democrats will have to govern and there will be no excuses – sink or swim. After redistricting and a few election cycles if California does not thrive, the California GOP will re-emerge like a phoenix from the ashes.