California's Ailing Republicans: A Dying Breed?

Republicans are relishing the coming of a new day on Capitol Hill. But across the country in California, the party of Nixon and Reagan is drifting toward obscurity.

The latest sign of imperiled health: In a year Republicans notched big victories in Congress, governor's offices and statehouses around the nation, California Democrats made a clean sweep of eight statewide contests on Nov. 2. Democrats padded their majority in the Legislature, where the party controls both chambers and no congressional seats changed parties.

California counted more registered Republicans in 1988 than it does today, even though the state population has since grown by about 10 million. Setting aside the politically ambidextrous Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose celebrity eclipsed his Republican registration, the California GOP counts only a single victory in 21 statewide contests since 2002 – that of insurance commissioner in 2006.

You'd have to go back more than two decades to find a Republican, George H.W. Bush, who carried the state in a presidential election.

"They know who we are and they don't like us," former state Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim says bluntly. "The brand of the Republican Party in California is tarnished."

With the U.S. House majority in hand and an eye toward 2012, Republicans in Washington have staked out plans for tax cuts and undercutting President Barack Obama's health care reforms. The situation in California presents a reverse image, where Republican influence has been marginalized. Voters this month cleared the Legislature to pass budgets with a majority vote – down from a two-thirds threshold – that will allow Democrats to pass a spending plan without Republican support.

The GOP losses this month left party leaders stunned. Recession-weary voters seemingly wanted new faces and ideas. The Democratic political careerists, Sen. Barbara Boxer and state Attorney General Jerry Brown, a former two-term governor, both were considered vulnerable, facing well-funded candidates.

In the end, Brown easily claimed the governor's chair from Republican billionaire Meg Whitman, a former eBay chief executive who spent more money – at least $174 million – than any candidate for a statewide office in U.S. history. All but roughly $30 million of that was from her personal fortune.

Boxer beat former Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Carly Fiorina, another Republican, by nearly 10 points. What was supposed to be a vaunted GOP get-out-the-vote effort fizzled.