California, Gop | featured news

California's elected Republicans have long had a simple approach to illegal immigration: Those who broke the law coming here should leave. But the confluence of politics and personal threat have now put many Republican legislators in Washington and Sacramento in a very different place: eager to embrace an overhaul of immigration laws and willing to consider legal status for some of the country's nearly 12 million illegal immigrants, 3 million of whom live in California.

At least 133 residents of a state Senate district there have filed formal complaints with the state, saying they were added to GOP rolls without their knowledge. Aggressive recruitment efforts in one of California's most hotly contested voting districts has created a surge of newly minted Republicans like Marleny Reyes -- except she had no intention of joining the GOP.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads GOP voters overall with 27%, but he is still having a hard time wooing conservatives, who are more enthusiastic about businessman Herman Cain. A collapse in support for Texas Gov. Rick Perry has left Mitt Romney as the clear front-runner in California's Republican presidential primary, but the former Massachusetts governor is still struggling to rally the party's most conservative voters, a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll has found.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul won a California straw poll, the state Republican Party announced in a statement Saturday night.

The presidential hopeful, during an opening night appearance at the California Republican Party convention, says her party 'will make Barack Obama a one-term president.' The last time a GOP nominee took California in a general election was in 1988. GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann on Friday predicted California would side with Republicans in 2012, a distinct improbability given voting registration trends and recent history in the Golden State.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will swing through California this week for private meetings with Republican leaders, potential fundraisers and legislators that will stoke speculation that he plans to enter the 2012 Republican presidential contest....

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in Bakersfield, Calif., gives a speech that sounds a lot like a 2012 trial balloon, or at least an effort to drum up speculation and boost her GOP brand.

The GOP gubernatorial candidate promises to cut spending and suggests that lower taxes and less regulation will spur business. But experts say the bleak economy is mostly due to the real estate crisis.

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who has poured millions of dollars into a four-month-long radio advertising campaign, is drubbing her Republican primary opponent in the California governor's race and is closing the gap against the presumed Democratic ...

Today, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman will formally announce her bid for the GOP nomination for the 2010 California gubernatorial race. Whitman wants to cut state spending by another $15 billion and create 2 million private-sector jobs by 2015, according to a speech prepared for today’s announcement in Fullerton, Calif.