George Deukmejian proved that sometimes nice guys finish first

California’s Republican elite – yes, Virginia, there was once such a thing – gathered in the Capitol on Dec. 15, 1980, to cast the state’s 45 presidential electoral votes for Ronald Reagan.
After the formalities, attendees lingered in the state Senate chambers, savoring the moment and believing that Reagan’s election was a harbinger of their party’s rising fortunes in a state that seemed to be, at the time, up for political grabs.
Mike Curb, a former recording