Conservative Gop Regroups In California

control of the state Assembly, conservative Republicans pondered Saturday how to right a party many said has gone adrift.

“It is clear that our party is suffering a major identity crisis,” Jon Fleischman, president of the California Republican Assembly, told attendees at the convention.

In an open letter, he called on the activists to “nominate articulate, conservative Republicans who will boldly contrast the failed ideas of liberalism with the successful conservative principles of freedom, free enterprise, faith and family.”

The party leaders paid homage to their hero, former California Gov. and President Ronald Reagan, and pledged to rekindle his brand of conservatism.

“Ronald Reagan believed in something,” said Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn. “How much we need that today.”

Pollster Kellyanne Fitzpatrick met with candidates and party leaders throughout the weekend to help them recapture the women’s vote.

“The Republican Party has been on a very long, blind date with women,” she said. “They need to court them a little better.”