Schwarzenegger aims at Republican center for 2008
Sat Sep 8, 2007 3:05PM EDT
reuters.com
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned his California Republican Party that it must recruit independent voters if it wants to be a force in next year's U.S. presidential primary and general elections.
"In movie terms, we are dying at the box office. We are not filling the seats," the former action movie star said on Friday night at the state party's annual convention in Indian Wells, California.
Republicans are the minority party to the Democrats in the state Assembly and Senate in Sacramento, the capital of the most populous U.S. state.
Thirty of 32 Republican Assembly districts lost registered Republican voters this year and the party has lost 370,000 members since 2005, Schwarzenegger said. Independent voters could outnumber Republicans and Democrats in 20 years, he said.
While most Republican U.S. presidential candidates have been busy proving their conservative credentials, Schwarzenegger directed his call at the centrists.
"Our party has lost the middle and we will not regain true political power in California until we get it back," he said.
Independents are the fastest-growing voter bloc in California. In 1999, 13 percent of the registered voters were not affiliated with a political party. Now, it is 19 percent, according to state voter registration figures.
Schwarzenegger and conservative GOP leaders have been feuding over health-care plans, global warming regulations and state spending programs.
"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," the governor said. |
