State GOP provides little help for voters

The big news out of the state GOP convention in San Diego over the weekend wasn’t who the Republicans endorsed, but who they didn’t.

The split in the governor’s race, where neither John Cox nor Travis Allen received the 60 percent support needed for the party endorsement, got the headlines. That, however, was not the worst news for the Republicans.

The party managed endorsements in just three of the seven statewide constitutional offices on the June 5 primary ballot that are partisan races: Cole Harris for lieutenant governor, Steven Bailey for attorney general and Mark Meuser for secretary of state.

Throw in the U.S. Senate race, in which the party endorsed no one, and that’s five of eight major offices for which California Republicans weren’t able to come up with a name to guide their voters.

There’s a reason for that in the insurance commissioner’s race, since there isn’t a Republican on the ballot. But there’s a Republican running for state controller, two Republicans in the treasurer’s race and a whopping 11 looking to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

But those other races weren’t even discussed over the weekend, with GOP officials arguing that none of those candidates met party requirements for a speaking spot at the convention, much less an endorsement. Job One of any major party is to recruit candidates who can get elected. But a Republican hasn’t been elected to a down-ballot statewide office since 2006 — and that candidate, Steve Poizner, is running for insurance commissioner this year as an independent, not as a Republican.

Down-ballot offices “are typically decided by a party vote, since generally no one knows who (the candidates) are,” said Tony Quinn, a former

GOP consultant who is now an editor of the nonpartisan California Target Book, which looks at state elections.

But in Democratheavy California, Republicans have had problems recruiting top-tier candidates “because there’s no sign of any reason to expect they’ll be elected,” Quinn said.

Republicans, however, seem to be willing to give up without a fight. While Democratic incumbents like Feinstein and state Controller Betty Yee are tough targets for a GOP challenger, Republicans already are waving the white flag for open seats like treasurer and insurance commissioner.

Even if Republicans can’t find a candidate to love in these statewide elections, it’s important that they settle on someone they can at least live with. The alternative is the embarrassment of GOP voters, lacking guidance from the party, backing a little-known neo-Nazi like Patrick Little.

While Little was unceremoniously booted from the convention hall last weekend, his name is still on the ballot for U.S. Senate, with the same party status as the other unendorsed Republicans.