Steve Frank
For several cycles I have worked for Statewide and national candidates. I really thought I was doing well for the conservative and Republican causes. And, I was, when working for California statewide candidates.
But, this is California. When I worked for Presidential candidates or statewide candidates, I worked with the best volunteers in the State, county by county, region by region. They did super work, created events, phone banks, pushbacks, fund raisers, held signs, cheered and made sure every possible effort was made to assure the best results in the primary and the general election.
A couple of weeks ago, John Burton, the chairman of the California Democratic Party, announced his 2012 effort. It is called “It Gets Bluer”. He plans very little to do with the Presidential or the U.S. Senate race. His whole effort and that of the California Democratic Party is to assure a 2/3 majority in the Assembly and Senate. He vows to win 3-5 congressional seats as well.
This past week I had a conversation with another old time activist who presented a line of reasoning I thought I should share.
He noted that the California presidential primary will be in June. Except for 1964, the GOP presidential nomination was sewn up months before. Then he went on to say that the 2012 election will be won or lost, in California based on Obama’s policies. The last time a GOP’er won California for president was 1988. This time Barack will win or lose based on TV and radio ads, debates and his record.
Thanks to the Democrat controlled Citizens Redistricting Commission, we will be fighting to keep the Democrats from a 2/3 majority in each Chamber. We can keep them from it.
The Republican victory will be based on a focused effort by the best of the California Republicans volunteers. Those who, for cycles have worked presidential and statewide races need to instead, this time, work for Assembly, Senate and Congressional candidates—they need the best of the best.
While it is glamorous to work on a presidential—the winning of an Assembly race, that can be won, taking away a State Senate seat from the Democrats is glorious and victory in a congressional race assures the next President, a Republican, strong support where it counts.
Our challenge in 2012 in California is to make California purple or RED. It is not done by concentrating the best of our volunteers on a California presidential race in June or November, but on winning legislative seats so Jerry Brown and his band of unions do not.
Without stopping Brown, California taxes will skyrocket, you know he would have raised taxes by $70 billion if we did not have the votes to stop the 2/3 needed to raise them.
The next election is about the survival of the State of California and keeping Republicans relevant. It could be about even more, some believe we could win 35 Assembly seats, up to 16 Senate seats and 2-3 congressionals. That would be impressive.
Those local candidates need to have volunteers that are well trained, understand the stress of campaigns and know campaigns inside and out. Most legislative races have new activists and those who have been around the district a long time as workers. This time we need to have the best trained, educated and motivated volunteers possible for every legislative race in California.
Republicans will win the presidency—will we keep California safe from higher taxes? The choice is yours— glamour or California. The next election is important, make the right decision. Think about it.
