California Republican Convention in Sacramento

◼ Outgoing CA GOP chair Tom Del Beccaro: Gay marriage is 'difficult issue' for GOP - Sacramento Bee

"I think the reality is you're going to find that the Republican Party is going to have members on all sides of this issue for years to come and I think across this country for years to come it's going to be debated," he said.

◼ Karl Rove addresses CA GOP county chairs - Sacramento Bee

"He talked about being cohesive and keeping the party together," Westfall said. "Just basically that we have to try to get together and get the message out there."

Part of that process involves rehabilitating the party's image in the eyes of voters. Donald S. Preston, chair of Solano County, said the party's central tenets of self-reliance and family values have " been distorted so badly" by critics.

"[Rove] says we have to work on image, on our branding," Preston said.

◼ KARL ROVE: GOP NEEDS TO ‘GET UP OFF THE MAT’ & FIND MORE DIVERSE CANDIDATES - The Blaze

...Rove told activists at the Republican Party’s spring convention in Sacramento that rebuilding would be “a big task,” but offered Texas as an example. Once a Democratic stronghold, the state elected Republicans to 95 of 150 state House seats in November. Democrats have not won a statewide office in Texas since 1994.

Republicans hold the opposite status in California, where Democrats won supermajorities in the Legislature last fall and hold every statewide office. The GOP accounts for less than 30 percent of the state’s voters and has been losing favor with Latinos, women and younger voters.

“It’s not just the tactical stuff,” Rove stated. “[We've] got a strategic issue. We have great principles, but we sometimes talk about those principles in a way that makes it sound like it’s in 1968 or 1980 or 2000 and it’s not. It’s 2012 on its way to 2014.”

The former George W. Bush aide said rebuilding the California Republican Party might be so tough that party activists might choose to continue on their current path, “or you can get up off of the mat and throw yourself back into this contest.”

“Think smart, be active, be committed, rebuild the organization, ask for the vote in the right way, and speak boldly and proudly about our universal principles in a way that attracts support of your fellow Californians,” he said....

◼ Karl Rove tells California Republicans to step up communication - Sacramento Bee

"If our values are universal then we have obligation to argue on behalf of values in every corner, in every crevice, in every community of our great country," he said.

Rove also urged Republicans to modernize their message, applying "timeless principles" of conservatism to new circumstances.

"It's not just the tactical stuff," Rove said. "(We've) got a strategic issue. We have great principles, but we sometimes talk about those princples in a way that makes it sound like it's in 1968 or 1980 or 2000 and it's not. It's 2012 on its way to 2014."

Rove met with county GOP chairs, Republican legislators and posed for photos with delegates at a $300-a-head reception ahead of his lunchtime speech. Lawmakers said he stressed the need to improve campaign technology and messaging efforts.

◼ Abel Maldonado: 'I'm not going to give up on California' - Sacramento Bee

◼ Republican leaders emphasize Latino recruitment - Sacramento Bee

◼ NEW: Texas grateful to CA for sending the best and brightest - Katy Grimes/Cal Watchdog

...The bottom line

“There is not enough revenue, and too much spending,” Rove said. “Government getting too big, and too expensive.”

Rove said the debt is up about 60 percent from the $10 trillion Obama inherited.

According to the latest data, U.S. gross domestic product rose just 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. Economists had expected GDP to increase 1 percent. “But there is no European Union to bail us out,” Rove said.

“The biggest problem is our economy. We’re in a recovery,” he said mockingly. “This is the weakest recorded recover in history of country, which means this is the first recovery in which median household income has dropped.

“We used to say everything important in America happened first in California. A Republican resurgence could happen in California. The future of this state is so important. The future of country depends on it.”

But, Rove added, “We in Texas are grateful for you sending your best and brightest to us.”