CALIFORNIA PRIMARIES, GOOD NEWS AND BAD

     In the aftermath of the California Primaries, we were hoping for better news. Thanks to a form of Democrat political protectionism, the Republicans aren't even going to be represented in the 2018 Senate race. We predicted they'd have a reasonable chance, but... this is the West Coast.

    California and Washington State both have rigged Primary Election laws whereby the top two candidates advance to the General Election; regardless of party. Thus, if you have a Democrat who's able to scrape up enough votes (or commit enough fraud) to finish second overall, the top GOP candidate is eliminated.

    That's what happened to James Bradley, the leading GOP contender at the polls. Spread among all the candidates, the GOP got around 34% of the vote. Incumbent Democrat Diane Feinstein got 43%. This could have been a close race under fairer voting rules. But the vote was split up among GOP candidates, enabling radical Leftist Democrat Kevin de Leon to squeak by into second place. 

     The system was largely at fault here, but the California GOP should have anticipated the problem and coalesced behind one candidate. But Bradley and Erin Cruz were both polling about twice as high than the number of votes they actually received; while two other GOP candidates who barely registered on the polls somehow managed to get 12% between the two of them. California has an Open Primary system, and it's not unknown that Democrats will organize 'spoiler votes'. 

      However Election Night was not a total loss for us in the Golden State. Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox scored a surprisingly strong 27% and second-place finish. His Democrat opponent, the repugnant Gavin Newsom, finished first with 33%. So we still have a decent shot at Sacramento as a Consolation Prize. It would be more of a symbolic win, though, since the chances of a GOP takeover of the State Assembly are not especially good; and Cox himself is really much more Libertarian than Conservative. 

      The media hyenas are trying to spin the Primary results as some great renunciation of Trump and his policies. Remember though that Hillary Clinton won this state by a 2-1 margin. Democrats winning a heavily Democrat state is hardly a bellwether of national trends. If Conservatives can make a stronger showing in 2018 than 2016 in California, that will be significant for the future.