While blue California is almost certain to go for President Barack Obama come November, California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro sees opportunity for the GOP to be a major force from the presidential race down.

Del Beccaro laid out his strategy and expectations for the 2012 election in a Wednesday interview with The Bee Capitol Bureau.

>Can the Republican Party play at all against Obama in California?

The Republican Party historically in California has sent money to other states. So we do have an impact, regardless of whether this particular state is in play. … It will look like a competitive race for a long time and then I think in the last month things will slip away from Obama and it's going to require him to spend money in places he otherwise would not want to spend… So I think its possible that he's going to wind up spending an inordinate amount of time in California trying to get money, eventually spending money in California, which by definition is going to have an impact on Wisconsin, Iowa, North Carolina and those kinds of states. I'm not predicting to you today that we're going to carry California, but I think (Obama) has trouble here and I think that allows us to provide resources and other things around the country.

>Does he have more trouble here depending on who the nominee is? A (Mitt) Romney vs. a (Newt) Gingrich?

I think it's probably too early to tell. … Right now nationally you have a circumstance where Republicans are in the worst of their food fight. This is the worst they are going to look to the electorate… in about three months, this fun is going to come to an end and then it's going to be the nominee vs. Obama… What the changed dynamic will be is that you're going to have a Republican with a pretty detailed plan. One of the benefits of this intramural affair is that it forced the Republican candidates to get very definite on what their plans would be… >

Did you like anything you heard (in Obama's State of the Union address)?

Obama said out loud that if we provide tax incentives to portions of the business community they will do better. That's right, when you lower the cost of doing something to a business, you will do better. The problem I have with him and I had with (former GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger) when he wanted to give a tax deduction… just to the movie industry, the problem I had with (former President Bill) Clinton when he offered targeted tax cuts when he was running for president the second time around, if the logic of lowering costs is that it will help an individual business is true, then you must accept that it's true for everyone. So I did like the fact that he recognizes that if he lowers the costs for some business they would do better, I just wish he would apply that across the board and create a level playing field instead of a tax code where winners and losers are picked.

>If the current redistricting lines hold, what do you see as the impact on the Senate and the Assembly?

If the current redistricting lines hold with regard to the Senate, the Republicans are going to have an enormously difficult time staying above the one-third threshold. We're going to fight like the dickens to do it, which is in part why of course we went ahead with the referendum process, but it will be enormously difficult. … (In the Assembly), Republicans actually have a chance to improve their standing.

>How much is the party going to need to raise and spend to keep the Democrats from winning those swing seats?

I don't look at it simply in a monetary point of view. If I wrote a check tomorrow for X amount of dollars, that would not change the dynamic per se. I'm shifting how the state party sort of runs elections in this state or how it participates in the election process. … For years we have been (Legislature)-centric in our strategy, meaning we have put our resources behind just legislative candidates, which by definition writes off the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. I am modifying that strategy so that the party and its candidates will take a greater interest in statewide initiatives so that Republicans throughout the state, regardless of what county they're located in, have something to fight for right through November.

>Is (Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne) Feinstein going to be re-elected?

There are a number of people that have expressed an interest in the Feinstein race. We should know in the next two to three weeks who those players are. … Right now, point blank, there isn't someone, a major name that has agreed to it, but I think her polls show that she is vulnerable and we are hoping to find someone who will break out of the pack. But as of yet … we don't have someone who has made it clear, who is head and shoulders above the rest or a very prominent name.

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Call Torey Van Oot, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5544.

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