Former Gov. Pete Wilson took the stage at the California Republican Party Convention during lunch Saturday, emphasizing the importance of a multi-front Republican victory in what has long been considered a “blue state.”
Affirming the current Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wilson, who served from 1991-1999, urged delegates to focus on the 2010 gubernatorial contest. Bringing another Republican into Sacramento will push forward a plan for what he called “fair and honest reapportionment.”
The boundaries of voting districts determine much in elections. While the state has voted so predictably Democratic in the past that presidential candidates often avoid it on the campaign trail in favor of “battleground” states like Ohio, some believe redrawing voting district boundaries could swing California towards the Republican side.
“When they gerrymandered the states – that’s what set it up to be a really Democratic place,” said Douglas Boyd Sr., vice chairman of the L.A. division of the California Republican Party. “We need fair redistricting.”
Wilson talked of the benefits of redistricting during his tenure as governor. In 1992, redistricting brought enough Republicans into the state legislature that Wilson vetoed just one-third the number of bills he did his first year in office.
The more sympathetic legislature “killed all that junk” before it reached the governor’s desk, Wilson said.
This election, proposition 11 targets what proponents see as gerrymandering, or the unfair drawing of voting district lines. Wilson urged Republicans to approve proposition 11, though earlier in the day, the party’s Initiatives Committee tabled the proposition and delayed making an official endorsement either way.
Wilson also rallied the audience around the McCain-Palin ticket, drawing parallels between the candidate and President Ronald Reagan in their hard-line stances towards Russia.
“Thank God that Sen. McCain understands there are good and evil forces in the world,” Wilson said, referencing former Russian president Vladimir Putin. “You can take the thug out of the KGB but you can’t take the KGB out of the thug.”
Talk of Palin as a “reformer” and a candidate with “executive experience” drew cheers from the audience.
“This is a woman of some considerable spunk,” Wilson said. “She’s got guts. And she’s also got intelligence.”
Wilson closed his lunchtime speech with a rallying cry.
“I’m not just saying vote Republican,” Wilson said. “I’m saying vote for the candidate who will do the right thing. Vote Republican.”
