GOP convention is set to begin, but Whitman still must reach beyond the base

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As Republicans prepare to gather in San Diego this weekend, their party faces inherent disadvantages heading into the November election. Fewer than 31% of Californians are registered Republicans, compared with nearly 45% who are registered as Democrats.

The math is obvious: For Republicans to win statewide, they have to appeal to almost as many Democrats and decline-to-state voters as they do Republicans. And, the thinking goes, that will help gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and the Republican ticket attract voters that Republicans in this state typically do not.

That’s where having a billionaire at the top of the ticket comes in handy. With a vast campaign warchest, Whitman can afford to spend money on things that Republican candidates in California typically cannot. Take, for example, Whitman’s Spanish-language media effort. With television, radio and online ads, Whitman has engaged in an ambitious Spanish-language campaign in hopes of making inroads among California Latinos, who make up anywhere from 15% to 20% of the state’s voting population.

Once upon a time, before Proposition 187, Republicans were hopeful that Latinos would prove fertile ground for their party. But since 1996, Democrats have enjoyed almost a 3 to 1 advantage among Latino voters in California. Whitman’s campaign is trying to win some of those voters back.

‘We’re taking our message to all corners of California,’ said Hector Barajas, the Whitman’s Spanish-language spokesman. Barajas said there is a specific budget for Spanish-language outreach in the Whitman campaign but declined to discuss how much is being spent.

Democratic rival Jerry Brown’s campaign understands that Whitman must reach out to voters toward the center while holding on to her Republican base. And they have tried to portray Whitman as a pandering politician who says different things to different constituencies.

‘She’s been on all sides of so many of these issues,’ says Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford. ‘To say Meg Whitman has a position on anything is, in and of itself, misleading.’

Barajas responded to Clifford’s remark that Brown simply has no message to Latino voters.

‘Jerry Brown’s only message to Latinos is that he marched with Caesar Chavez,’ Barajas said. ‘He’s not communicating any type of plan about the future.’

-- Anthony York in Sacramento