How about that GOP?

I promised to do the Republicans this week. I should have cautioned to be careful what you wish for.

In a purely political assessment of the primary, there is no valid reason to consider the policy positions or popularity or vote-drawing power of the two prominent Republicans, TV host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, when seriously assessing their political fortunes.

I am not saying it is good, or bad. It just is.

And what it is, is this: Hilton and Bianco were never going to be the two nominees on the November ballot.

One of them will, most likely Hilton, as Bianco clearly is fading fast.

Then things will return to what passes for normal in California.

The only reason Hilton and Bianco have been relevant to this discussion is because of the mess the Democrats have made of the primary.

The two Reeps have done little campaigning, except to show up for televised debates, which makes their candidacies largely a product of polling. This leads, again, to the mess the Democrats have made.

Historically, in California, conservatives in the modern era have believed that their views are widely held and that they have been denied victory by a combination of corrupt Democratic practices, heavy-handedness by labor and co-conspirators in the news media.

This particular iteration of Republican conservatives are no different. Convinced of this, they have done little to broaden their appeal.

This time, Republicans have been buttressed by widespread dissatisfaction with both political parties. The message from Hilton and others is that one-party rule has only worsened most of California’s problems with housing, immigration, education and the cost of living.

But one political party has to be replaced with another, and, as is shown in poll after poll, the majority of Californians are not anti-tax, anti-immigration and, most assuredly, not gung-ho toward President Donald Trump.

And they are not Republicans.

In California, the GOP, with 25% of the state’s registered voters, is close to becoming the state’s third party, behind Democrats, 45%, and No Party Preference, 23%. In San Mateo County, Republicans are a third party – Democrats are 54.8%, Republicans 14.9% and NPP 24.5%

Based on the latest polling, the two Republicans are running where Republicans have run in California for decades — with just enough to lose by a landslide.

The combined percentage of Hilton and Bianco in the latest polls is 36%, less than the 40% won by GOP nominee Brian Dahle in 2022, when he lost to incumbent Gavin Newsom; closer to the 38% won by John Cox in 2018, when he lost to Newsom; and less than the 40% won by Neel Kashkari in 2014, when he lost to Jerry Brown.

As for candidates with significant flaws, the point of last week’s masterpiece, Hilton barely has lived in the country long enough for anybody to think of him as an established political figure.

All that aside, the huge flaw for either Hilton or Bianco is that they are Trump Republicans.

I cannot believe this point needs making, but that is not the case for most voters in California. Indeed, many Californians, rather than turned off by one-party rule, probably think of themselves as an important counter, even resistance, to the one-party rule emanating out of Washington.

The fact is, neither Republican candidate is in the mainstream of California politics.

The only thing different about this election from other gubernatorial campaigns is the ability of Democrats to undermine themselves. Hilton and Bianco have been at or near the top of the polls not because of the issues they cite or the positions they have taken, but because no Democrat was able, until lately, to seize a commanding lead.

If this was a normal race with one of the high-profile Democrats who could have run, this would have been over weeks ago. The way things are going, the race appears to returning to something resembling normalcy.

I did get another swath of comments, and they were all the same — voters are going to wait until the last poll shows a clear Democratic front-runner, and then vote for that one. They may not be crazy about whoever that might be, but electing a Republican governor — they say that would be crazy.