I found this article on CA's increasing political irrelevance a good read. Since i do believe the Dem party's fortunes are tied greatly to this state, i think it's an important read.
http://alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18043
not that i agree with all of it. you still find good cutting edge policy where CA leads the nation: ie environmental standards, the paid-family leave bill. but the state seems to be a serious sort of crisis, and it is true all of our recent governors have sucked compared to the strong visionaries of Hiram Johnson, Earl Warren, Pat Brown, Reagan, Nixon, Jerry Brown. Also, the stuff about how we spent 2 cents per dollar on public investment vs. 25 cents during Pat Brown's heyday was telling. as is the fact that though our congressional delegation is huge, and occupies a lot of leadership roles, we don't have the clout of a TX or MS. i don't think even during the Clinton years CA really had much clout.
My mom was telling me her house is now worth $500,000. this is a ridiculous amount for our [formerly] middle-class area, which is a suburb of LA. i can't believe people would pay that much to live in smoggy-suburban sprawl hell known as the Inland Empire, but i guess people are getting pushed out so far. pretty soon, the state will only have really rich folks and a bunch of illegal immigrants living there. She says it's too bad homeownership in CA is out of the question for her kids. With the grocery unions getting a rotton deal, i only see trends getting worse.