REPUBLICANS FACING TOUGH ROAD AHEAD.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

The stinging election defeat Republicans suffered across California forced party leaders Wednesday to begin analyzing what is needed to make the GOP once again competitive.

Less than three years ago, Republicans controlled the state Assembly, the Governor's Office and four other statewide offices - attorney general, insurance commissioner, treasurer and secretary of state.

But Tuesday, they lost the governor and attorney general races and Democrats picked up at least five more Assembly seats - which will give them a 48-32 edge over the GOP.

``This is going to need a lot of introspection into who we are and where we stand as a party,'' said Mike Madrid, state GOP political director.

``I'm sure the party leaders will be holding a lot of meetings over the coming weeks to determine where we went wrong,'' he said. ``I think part of it is we are still a minority party in mentality and a lot better at expressing what we're against than a vision for the future.''

The losses were so stunning that some political consultants wondered if the party can play a role in the immediate future.

``There won't be much Republicans can do when it comes to implementing state policy,'' said Republican consultant Allan Hoffenblum. ``This is probably the biggest drubbing they have had since 1968. We're losing conservative districts.''

The state Democratic Party's political director, Bob Mulholland, gleeful at the election results, said he believes the Republicans have been set back 10 years and offered a possible cause for the GOP's woes.

``It's the split in the Republican Party between the religious right and the more moderates,'' Mulholland said. ``We were winning seats in Republican strongholds.''

Hoffenblum said part of the problem was the campaigns run by Attorney General Dan Lungren for governor and Treasurer Matt Fong for the U.S. Senate.

``They were such boring campaigns that no one wanted to vote,'' Hoffenblum said. ``Then you look at the national campaign and the scandals involving Clinton and it turned out Democrats were energized and Republicans either stayed home or voted for Democrats.''

Madrid and Hoffenblum agreed the answer for the GOP is to continue the effort started this year to reach out to minorities and women as well as develop a broader agenda.

GOP strategist Arnie Steinberg said there was a failure to energize the grass roots of the party.

``As a party, we have to stop being responsive to only the executive candidates and attend to the Legislature,'' Steinberg said.

``This year the state Assembly campaigns were dramatically underfunded and that's where you get a lot of people out. Instead, the party threw money into the junk advertising campaigns of Dan Lungren.''