Larry Elder Loses California Recall

Current vote tallies suggest Larry Elder has overwhelmingly lost the California recall election; he conceded last night. I was briefly optimistic when polls showed the race even, but more recent polling and analysis of the mail-in voting proved to be, if anything, too sanguine about the eventual outcome, which was disastrous for Elder.

I've seen little analysis so far of the reasons for this. One factor, I think, goes to Rush Limbaugh's frequent reply when people urged him to run for office: he'd say he knows how to attract a radio audience, but he knows nothing about how to attract votes. The applies all the more to Elder, who has been an also-ran host at lackluster Salem Media along with figures like Hugh Hewitt and Sebastian Gorka.

I occasinally tuned into his radio show when I was in the car now and then, but I found nothing to maintain my interest. He was saying many of the right things, but nothing new or compelling.

I think this carried over into his campaign, which consisted mainly of soundbites on Fox and other right-leaning media. One might argue that funding restrictions for recall candidates limited his ability to spend on ads, but the ads I did see were pretty bland.

It seems as if his announcement lent a measure of interest to the the recall in the beginning -- he was at least a better choice than Caitlyn Jenner, while the other leading Republicans were uninspiring -- but his message, insofar as he had one, never quite caught on. People were tired of Newsom, but he's up for reelection next year anyhow. The one good thing the recall did was keep Newsom from imposing new lockdowns for much of 2021, while a looming election in 2022 will now probably curb his wish to impose much more.

California does face a series of problems. including the results of the political alliance between the elites and the Lumpenproletariat, which include homelessness and the rise in both petty and violent crime. Other issues include deferred public water and highway projects, while the endless high speed rail boondoggle has sucked investment away from them. Forest management errors have led to worsening wildfires. Public education needs serious reform.

Elder paid only lip service to these issues and effectively acknowledged that with Democrat supermajorities in the legislature, his only ability to effect change in a one-year term would be to use the bully pulpit. Heck, he has a radio show for that.

The current establilshed ourder may be corrupt and unpopular, but Republicans have to present a serious alternative. Talk radio hosts have limited effectiveness, something Limbaugh himself fully understood.