I don’t buy the assumption that Virginia is “bluer than California.”
Depends what you mean by blue. California Republicans have won statewide offices and have recently run a legislative body with clear popular mandates. Virginia Republicans have been losing handily for a while now, with the gerrymander covering up for their unpopularity. At the national level, you’re right – California is bluer. But at the statewide level, I think California is still pretty purplish. Probably because your so-called “sane” Republicans like Schwarzenegger still hold some leverage in California, if not nationally, and your California Democrats like Gray Davis could easily be confused with a Republican elsewhere in the country.