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As Republicans seek to improve their standing among Latinos and women, fresh controversies in California could further damage the party with both groups.

On Monday, a GOP gubernatorial candidate's inflammatory rhetoric likening illegal immigration to war came to light. The previous day, a conservative website on California politics was launched, featuring a raunchy photo-shopped image of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi a depiction that prompted the most powerful Republican congressman from California to remove his column from the site.

The trouble came as the state Republican Party has been trying to claw its way back to relevance, with GOP voter registration in California at a historic low and every statewide office held by Democrats.

At the California Republican Party's recent convention, attention was showered on a new class of candidate that included many women and minorities. The grooming of a diverse bench, party leaders said, was key to the rebound effort.

The party has long argued that its problems with Latinos and women were caused by tone, not policy. And on Tuesday, some Republicans warned that the fallout from the latest uproar notably from remarks by GOP Assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly could be devastating.

"I am just appalled," said Rosario Marin, a Latina from Huntington Park who served as U.S. Treasurer under President George W. Bush. She has endorsed Donnelly's main GOP rival, former U.S. Treasury official Neel Kashkari.

"It's an embarrassment not only to himself but to the party and the efforts I am involved in at the national level to elect Latino Republicans," she said. "This makes my job that much more difficult."

Republicans have struggled with Latinos and women both nationally and statewide.

In the aftermath of the party's 2012 presidential loss, a scathing self-autopsy found that broadening the GOP's appeal was critical to its future, and national leaders invested $10 million in outreach efforts, including in California.

Latino voters in this state increasingly joined the Democratic Party after voters passed Proposition 187. That 1994 ballot measure, championed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson, denied taxpayer-funded services to illegal immigrants (it was later gutted in court).

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Republicans could slide further with women, Latinos

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McAllister, called the Duck Dynasty congressman because of his defense of the Robertson familys Christian values, issued a statement asking for forgiveness from God, his family, his staff and constituents, and he declared that he still plans to run for reelection. And the woman, a part-timer paid less than $22,000 a year who also received $300 from McAllister to clean out his campaign office? She was terminated as the story broke, the congressmans chief of staff told another Louisiana paper.

It takes chutzpah to observe Equal Pay Day by sacking the low-wage employee youve been snogging.

Thus did Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, find himself fielding a question about McAllister at a news conference that was meant to highlight the partys pro-women efforts. Im glad he issued an apology, Cantor said, reserving further judgment on whether the kissing congressman, who has been in office for less than five months, should quit.

Republicans arent responsible for McAllister any more than Democrats are to blame for Anthony Weiners weirdness. But for Republicans, who have a big disadvantage among unmarried women, this reinforces a perception. The Democrats accusation of a GOP war on women sticks not because of what Democrats say but because of what Republicans do and the big problems arent personal pratfalls but rather public policy.

In his news conference, Cantor repeatedly called on Democrats to put the politics aside and talk with Republicans about things that we can do together, things that disproportionately impact women, without playing politics.

In the Senate, where Democrats were daring Republicans to vote against equal-pay legislation, Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who is likely to face a female Democratic challenger in November, told Democrats to drop all the show votes.

Democrats are indeed making partisan attempts to embarrass Republicans on issues important to women. The coordinated actions being taken, including President Obamas signing of executive orders Tuesday to expose pay disparities by gender among federal contractors, are largely symbolic. The disparity is stubborn. According to the American Enterprise Institute, the 229 women who work in the White House are paid 88 cents on the dollar compared with the 232 men who do, a finding not disputed by the administration.

But when one side complains that the other is playing politics, its a safe bet that those doing the complaining are losing. Cantor and McConnell dont seem to grasp that the war-on-women accusations arent made in a vacuum; they gain traction because of proposals Republicans are advancing.

Consider Paul Ryans budget, which the House is debating this week. Among those functions of government the Republican congressman from Wisconsin would cut, many disproportionately benefit women, according to the National Womens Law Center.

For example, Medicaid (about 70 percent of adult recipients are women), food stamps (63 percent of adult recipients are women) and Pell grants (62 percent) would be cut. Then there are programs in categories that would face cuts Ryan hasnt specified: Supplemental Security Income (two-thirds of the poor and elderly recipients are women), welfare (85 percent of adult recipients are women), housing vouchers (82 percent of recipient households headed by women), child-care assistance (75 percent female-headed households) and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program.

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