Lonely At The Top

I guess there's no fun in being post-partisan. According to the Sac Bee Tom McClintock will NOT ATTEND Gov. Schwarzenegger's address to the California Republican Party tonight, because he "is so dismayed by the governor's positions."

"Many Republicans supported him in 2006 based on the simple, unequivocal campaign promise he made not to raise taxes," McClintock said. "He broke that promise and proposed the second-largest tax increase in state history. I will never trust another word he says."

OK, this is the man who ran as the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, arguably the second-highest Constitutional office in the state. It's essentially Schwarzenegger's running mate. This is basically akin to Cheney just leaving the seat behind Bush empty at the State of the Union. (Dare to dream...)

This is just an extension of the disillusionment Republicans have had with Arnold. Not at the voting booth; the right held their nose and voted him back into office. But all of his signature achievements last year passed with hardly any Republican support in the legislature. Tonight he'll be talking in front of a party which increasingly feels abandoned by him, particularly on taxes. McClintock is in the dead center of Republican Party philosophy and he doesn't waver. He also has lost FOUR statewide races for various offices, and once for the US House. His vision of the Republican Party is incommensurate with majority opinion in this state. The CA Republican Party's idea of a moderate is someone who calls all prison inmates animals.

That's why there pretty much is no Republican Party in California, and in the post-post-partisan era, virtually nobody appears to be able to mount a statewide run (I mean, who? Steve Poizner and his $30 million?). The Democratic Party has its troubles as well, and the progressive movement is trying to fix that from the ground up. I have always submitted that the increase in "Decline to State" voters here has everything to do with the fact that you have two weak parties, and the one that steps up and starts engaging voters and addressing real needs of the people will have a tremendous opportunity to forge ahead.