Ordinarily, state party conventions are a chance for rank-and-file partisans to get a steady diet of red-meat, base-rallying rhetoric. Yesterday, at the California Republican Party's convention, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) tried a different tack.

"In movie terms, we are dying at the box office. We are not filling the seats," the California governor said. "Now, while the number of California Republicans has been declining, the number of independents has been growing. They may well outnumber both political parties in just 20 years." Schwarzenegger made the comments in an address to the California Republican party state convention.

"The real opportunity for Republicans is that independents generally agree with our core principles," he said. "I want to make the Republican Party welcoming to these Independents."

Schwarzenegger added that the GOP can become a majority party by "expanding into the center, not falling back upon ourselves into a smaller and smaller corner."

California Republican activists responded with enthusiastic agreement, realizing that their numbers are dwindling and that it's time to move away from the edge of the far-right cliff. Oh wait, that's not what happened at all.

"The Republican Party should stick to its core principles," said Mark Zappa, 48, a promotional business owner from Gilroy who said he was "very disturbed" by the governor's call to open the Republican Party to independent voters as the Democrats do.

"If you have to sway your beliefs just to satisfy society, you don't have a moral basis," Zappa said. "Does that mean you're marginalized? Possibly."

If Democrats are really lucky, Republicans will continue to ignore everything Schwarzenegger said.