David Marcus: Newsom won the California recall but we take away these valuable lessons

The California recall was not a wasted effort. In a very real way it helped to check the more restrictive impulses of Democrats across the country.

There are some lessons in this not just for California, but for the nation.

Having travelled throughout the state over the past week, the most important places I visited, in terms of the ultimate result of the election, were in the GOP-leaning Central Valley. There, in towns like Modesto, Fresno, and Bakersfield, voters landed in favor of the recall, but not in nearly large enough numbers.