Today’s Washington Post features a long story about Asm. Anthony Adams.  Just think, two years ago, who in the world would have thought that sentence would have appeared on this blog. But yet, it is true.

The story focuses on the central question of the Republican Party, in the nation, but especially this state.  Whither the moderation? Do Republicans languish in their ideological prison, or attempt to lure some of those DTS voters? Do they continue to stand with the right-wing on issues of importance to the burgeoning Latino electorate? As of right now, nobody has the answers, not Arnold Schwarzenegger or Anthony Adams nor the Chuck DeVores of the world. Sure, they all think they have some sort of diagnosis. But just try to get two Republicans in the same room and you’ll get five different answers.

For Adams’ part, he says he is being persecuted for one vote.  After all, look at most objective scorecards, and Adams gets pretty conservative rankings. Not that the California Republican Assembly’s scorecard is objective, but Adams did score above Cameron Smyth, Brian Nestande and Nathan Fletcher, all freshmen who are getting a lot of love from the right. But one vote can get you in a world of trouble in today’s GOP:

Schwarzenegger rallied to the assemblyman’s side at an Adams fundraiser, which merely threw gasoline on the conservatives’ fire. The recall effort moved forward. Adams could not quite believe what was happening — particularly that he had been spurned by the very people to whom, he said, he had devoted his career. He saw the turmoil as symptomatic of a drive coming from “Taliban purist elements” of his party, he said.

“It hurts, but there is a new push by the purists out there,” he observed. “This recall isn’t helping Republicans, if you ask me. And we as a party already have problems enough in this state without this.”(WaPo)

“Taliban.” It’s a big word for somebody who has dedicated the majority of his professional career to the base of the Republican party.  It’s quite the attack on the plan of right-wing Republicans to eliminate any traces of ideological disharmony.

Of course, this is a natural reaction in many ways.  During the last 15 years or so, the Republicans could win with whatever they wanted to say, Democratic candidates were weak and underfunded. So why not toss that red meat to the base? Now, they have to watch themselves. Republicans in moderate areas have largely been defeated around the country, and California is no different.

But the danger in California for Republicans is that they seemingly cannot muster up a statewide campaign.  As Allen Hoffenblum mentioned in the article, the Party is a regional party, becoming largely irrelevant to a majority of Californians. However, even speaking as a Democrat, a one-party system is not ideal even if you love the one party. The Republicans have power because they are granted power through a supermajority system. It is a crutch that they rely on. Perhaps if they didn’t have that crutch, they would return to the mainstream where they could actually win a few contested elections.

Just as in the case of the New York special congressional election, analysts struggled to read the meaning of the latest GOP dust-up. What does it portend for Republicans in California and elsewhere that a beleaguered California assemblyman, fingered for expulsion by impassioned conservatives, has survived, at least temporarily? “I don’t know,” Adams concedes. … For now, all the two warring sides can agree on is that the Adams clash represents another firefight in an ongoing battle for the soul of the party in the state and around the country. But, in California especially, the brawl also serves as the latest evidence of a troubled party, one with a governor spurned by his fellow Republicans, and a conservative wing that, even in targeting its own, cannot seem to impose its will. It is a party adrift in California for the moment, its leaders acknowledge, rudderless.(WaPo)

The California GOP doesn’t deserve to hold the power that it even holds now through its structural games. But until more legislators can afford to play ball with the majority, the state will be hold hostage to this bumbling band.