WHEN ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER won the 2003 recall election, he became the only Republican elected to statewide office in California. He may not have been a doctrinaire conservative like State Sen. Tom McClintock, another candidate on the ballot, but the California GOP’s board of directors nevertheless endorsed him. As they saw it, a superstar like Schwarzenegger could deliver Republicans even more than the state’s highest office. Gov. Schwarzenegger won reelection in a landslide–yet California Republicans are still waiting for their revolution.
While the Democrats still control both houses of the state legislature, there is a silver lining for the California GOP. Schwarzenegger is no longer the only Republican who holds statewide office. Two years ago, voters elected Steve Poizner to the post of insurance commissioner. In other states, this might be a minor position, but in California, where earthquakes and other natural disasters are a routine part of life, it is a political stepping-stone. (The last insurance commissioner, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, is expected to run for governor in 2010.) As the head of the California Department of Insurance, Poizner oversees 1,300 employees and a $200 million budget.
