Republican group will groom a 'farm team' of potential California officeholders
GOP leaders and donors seek to cultivate candidates who could win historically 'hopelessly blue' state elections.
SACRAMENTO — Hoping to find a successor to popular Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and end the decadelong shellacking that most other Republicans have suffered when running for statewide office, a group of GOP leaders and well-heeled donors Wednesday announced plans to stock a "farm team" of candidates they hope will put their party back in power.
The organization includes former Gov. Pete Wilson and a crew of moderate Republican donors from Orange County.
Although they insist that potential candidates will be judged by their quality and electability -- not their ideology -- some conservatives are already critcizing the move as an attempt to undermine their leadership in the party.
California Republicans Aligned for Tomorrow will work with the California Republican Party to find candidates for governor, U.S. Senate and state office seats starting in 2010, when Schwarzenegger terms out of office.
Among the potential gubernatorial candidates courted by the group is former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman, the 51-year-old billionaire who is now campaigning for Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain and once served as a fundraiser for his rival, Mitt Romney, according to one source.
(Other Republicans have encouraged Whitman to run as well.)
The executive director, former California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim, said the new group is led by Republicans who represent the party's entire political spectrum.
"We are seeking winners, and winners come in different shapes. There is not a total template that they have to fit," Wilson said during a conference call with reporters Wednesday.
"As governor I supported candidates, whether they were pro-choice or pro-life, if they were strong Republicans and strong candidates. You want people who are attractive [candidates], you want people of principle."
Republican candidates have won only four of 24 possible statewide elections since 1994.
Before the February presidential primary, 33% of the state's voters were registered as Republicans, 43% as Democrats.
However, Wilson -- whom Californians elected twice as governor and twice as a U.S. senator -- said the state is by no means "hopelessly blue." Three of the state's last four governors were Republican.
Wilson and other members of the group are confident that appealing Republican candidates with a message of lower taxes, less government and more personal responsibility can still win election in the state.
