I have to hand it to the Republicans in this election year here in the Inland Empire. They have launched a concerted effort to stave off their irrelevance, not by switching their stance on issues but by trying to paint themselves as the aribiters of good governance with a homely appearance.
Republicans have tried to make some cities more competitive, targeting specifically San Bernardino and Highland but have generated mixed results. In San Bernardino, the advantage is with the Democrats and remains a bastion of working class populism due to its impoverishment and general malaise due to bankruptcy. While Pete Aguilar has struggled here, Paul Chabot's extremism is a turnoff to those rely on government benefits directly to make ends meet.
Chabot's talk of cutting taxes and not saying how you will pay for them means giveaways to so called job creators will be paid for on the backs of the poor. No matter how much Chabot harps on his belief that conservative Democrats are the majority in the 31st Congressional District, it doesn't make it so. Just look at the totals for Eloise Reyes and Justin Kim to see that a solid progressive faction can make the difference in a close race.
In Highland, its a different story or so it may seem. Stienorth has used his substantial cash advantage to reduce the gap between Katy Henry and himself. But we have seen this before, where Republicans re-register Democrats, but just create more problems for themselves statistacally. I would say that at the very least 30% of those newly registered Republicans are at still Democrats at heart. But, East Highland may hold the key to Stienorth's victory. He's up by 7 points as of today among absentee voters.
So Republicans, enjoy your victories (and may the be few) because we know they won't be long lasting.
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