I've previously discussed that the Democrats have a stranglehold on the Presidency and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The reason that I say this is the mathematics of the present era in which over the last six Presidential elections, or twenty-four years, there have been eighteen states and the District of Columbia that have voted Democratic in each of those years. The total electoral votes for those eighteen states and DC, which includes California, is 240 electoral votes in which the President need only 270 to be elected. The Republicans on the other hand, however, have just thirteen states for a total of 102 electoral votes that have voted for the Republican candidate in each of the last six elections. The difference between these two numbers are so great, that it is essentially a foregone conclusion that the Democrats will win the Presidency unless the biggest State of the Union was to flip to the other side, by backing a favored son. California was not always a reliable Democratic ticket, as seen by the fact that first Nixon and then Reagan were able to carry the state. However, since that time, the demographics of Republican registration has slipped considerably, so that today registered Republicans make up a mere 30% of the registered voters in California.
But all is not lost, because first in 2003 through a recall election, and then in 2006 when re-elected, an Austrian born body builder and actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected the Governor of California. If a man such as Schwarzenegger can do it, it would be considered reasonable to believe that the right candidate could do it on a Presidential scale in the near future.
California is the key to any hope for the Republicans in future elections, as a successful carrying of California would subtract 55 electoral votes from the Democrats and add 55 electoral votes to the Republicans, narrowing considerably the Democratic certain numerical advantage from 240-102, to 185-157, which makes it a real horse race.
But whom would the Republicans run? They could only consider running someone with a highly favorable public perception that is either from the entertainment world, the sports world, or possibly the corporate world. This particular person need not currently be a registered Republican, in fact in all probability that person would probably not be a registered Republican, and so the flipping of that particular registration would probably be done behind the scenes, and would remain unknown until such time as it became appropriate for a coming out party for said candidate.
For those who are appalled that someone that is not a professional or experienced politician could have the audacity to run for President, the answer to that would be the public approval rating of politicians in general which is abysmally low so to be perceived as an outsider, would be considered by a significant portion of the people to be a breath of fresh air.
Although there are many reasons why people vote for the people that they vote for, often times, it does come down to people voting for people that they like, and it's as simple as that.