Senate hopeful stops in Yuba City

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore urged a no-apologies embrace of conservative values Monday night as both the key for him to win a U.S. Senate seat next year and the strategy for Republicans to return to prominence at the ballot box in 2010.

Speaking to a crowd of about 150 at the Sutter County Republican Central Committee's dinner event in Yuba City, DeVore, R-Irvine, said voters concerned about Democratic policies in Sacramento and Washington D.C. are primed to vote for Republicans who stick to their ideals.

"I believe the way to get people to turn out in an election next year for governor, senate and all the constitutional and local offices is a movement conservative candidate," DeVore said, suggesting he would be that candidate.

Speaking without prepared remarks, DeVore walked around the room and gave his take on the political landscape before mentioning Carly Fiorina, his opponent in the GOP primary for the California Senate seat held by Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Before Fiorina entered the race, he noted, she took positions on such topics as corporate bailouts and cap-and-trade legislation on climate change that would be anathema to most core Republicans.

"So do you think we might be going down the same well-worn path of failure we've been down before by going that way?" DeVore asked rhetorically, suggesting Fiorina was emblematic of a ineffective Republican approach of trying to win elections rather than lead on principle.

But DeVore also touted his credentials on more than just party principles, noting he'd raised more money so far than any California GOP senate candidate since 1998, and polled even with Fiorina in a recent survey. Both he and Fiorina are also trailing Boxer within the margin of error on opinion polls, he added, suggesting Boxer was vulnerable.

Acknowledging Fiorina, as a former chief executive officer for Hewlett-Packard, has personal wealth far beyond what he might be able to raise, DeVore said he turned to an unlikely source for inspiration on running a populist, grassroots campaign.

"Barack Obama used Al Gore's invention. He used the Internet," DeVore said to snickers. "He used the tools Al gave us to stitch together like-minded volunteers from across the country into giving him support with their hope for change."

A similar approach with social networking and thousands of small donors, DeVore said before taking questions from dinner attendees, will help him tap into bubbling voter resentment and likely gains for the GOP in next year's elections.

Introducing DeVore earlier in the evening, state Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Penn Valley, suggested the necessary voter support for that to happen needs only a reason to rally.

"We have the right ideas at the right time, when the people of this country are going to wake up and realize conservative values are what they want for themselves and for their children and for their grandchildren," Aanestad said. "I really think something is brewing out there."