CA Sen: Former State Senator Richard Mountjoy to challenge Feinstein

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

If I remember correctly, the only reason Tower won was because then the Texas Democratic party was split between liberal and conservative wings. Typically the primaries would have a liberal vs. conservative, and whoever won was considered a shoo-in in the general election. In that case, a conservative Democrat won the primary, and thus many on the liberal wing led a campaign to vote for Tower in the general, with the theory being they could easily beat him later. Obviously that didn't work, but his initial victory was always a bit of a fluke.

The problem the California GOP faces with getting strong candidates to run later is the state is too big. A very good portion of the state is very conservative, around 40%, and they elect very conservative Republicans in those areas. But those conservatives can never win statewide. Furthermore the state is gerrymandered to ensure that basically every district in the legilsature and congressional delegation is safe for one party (every district that voted for Kerry is held by a Democrat, and every district that voted for Bush by a Republican), meaning the Republicans have a guaranteed number of seats, but permanent minority status. These seats will keep electing conservatives naturally, which means you can't end up with a moderate Republican who'd play well in Democrat areas and capable of winning statewide rising to prominence. The GOP lucked out with Arnold, but looks like he's toast now. Once Arnold falls, they'll be back permanently screwed statewide.