State GOP is 'dying at the box office,' gov. says - Schwarzenegger blames Republicans' declining fortunes on the party's failure to reach out to independent and moderate voters.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a warning to his fellow California Republicans on Friday: Their party is doomed if it does not move to the political center.

In a speech before 1,200 delegates to a semiannual state party convention, Schwarzenegger said the group's failure to reach out to independent and moderate voters -- and embrace politicians who, like him, govern from the middle -- is causing membership to plummet.

"In movie terms, . . . we are dying at the box office," he said. "We are not filling the seats."

The speech, which drew a mixed response, comes at a time of strained relations between the governor and the conservative activists who control the party. Schwarzenegger's policies on the environment, healthcare and state spending have led some party leaders to call him a Democrat masquerading as a Republican.

Yet in welcoming Schwarzenegger, party Chairman Ron Nehring described him as "the single greatest asset of the California Republican Party." Anticipating the speech to come, Nehring said the governor had been "bold" in taking the lead on healthcare and the environment -- traditionally Democratic issues.

Schwarzenegger, armed with poll numbers and invoking the names of "pragmatic conservatives" Ronald Reagan, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Teddy Roosevelt, told a nearly full ballroom at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa that on the issues, most Republican voters agree with him -- not party activists.

"Our party has lost the middle, and we will not regain true political power in California until we get it back," he said. "I am of the Reagan view that we should not go off the cliff with flags flying."

"I did that in 2005; trust me," Schwarzenegger said in a reference to his failed special election, when voters rejected each one of the conservative ballot measures he championed.

Cautioning against an incipient "bunker mentality," he urged the party to follow the lead of Democrats and invite independents to vote in primaries. Otherwise, he said in a clear reference to the summer's prolonged budget standoff, the party will deteriorate to such an extent that "our only remaining power is to say no."

"This very savvy audience here today understands that saying no is not the basis for a healthy political party," he said. "If our party doesn't address the needs of the people -- the needs of Republicans themselves -- the voters, registered Republicans included, will look elsewhere for their political affiliation."