California Republicans began gathering for a round of soul-searching Friday at the start of their spring convention as they seek to restore the party's luster after years of election defeats.

The state GOP is in debt and lost seats in the state Legislature and California's congressional delegation in November. Democrats hold all statewide offices and won supermajorities in the Assembly and Senate last fall.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield joked that the good news for California Republicans is that they cannot get any lower. He urged Republicans to fundamentally restructure the party's operations, modeling the effort on President Barack Obama's re-election campaign last fall.

"The political operation that this president has -- communicating, identifying and data-mining -- is by far superior to anything that Republicans have," McCarthy said during a gathering of the Sacramento Press Club. "And if there's a place that we should learn it, and if there's a place we should engage in it, and if there's a place we can apply it, it's right here in California."

He urged Republicans to deliver a message of optimism and "embrace a little bit of our libertarianism." If Republicans can turn around their fortunes in California, they can do it anywhere, he said.

Fewer than 30 percent of California voters are registered Republican, continuing a 20-year decline. The party has lost support among the fastest-growing segment of the electorate, Latino voters, who have shunned the GOP in California since 1994, when Gov. Pete Wilson championed Proposition 187.

That ballot initiative prohibited illegal immigrants from using public health care programs, education and a variety of social services. The law was later overturned by the courts but has left lingering resentment among Latinos.

McCarthy, the House GOP whip, is among those who have tried to turn the party around, with limited success. He leads the party's candidate-recruitment program and backed several candidates nationwide last November.

In California, a few of the candidates his group backed won election to the Legislature, but the party failed in its attempt to unseat Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney despite heavy spending.

He said he believes his group laid the foundation for future success and that 2012 was not the year they could win, given Obama's massive campaign infrastructure nationwide. McCarthy said that helped Democratic candidates at all levels.

Delegates at the party's weekend convention in the state capital also will hear from Republican strategist Karl Rove before they are expected to elect former Senate Minority Leader Jim Brulte as their new chairman. Brulte, of Rancho Cucamonga, has said the party is deeply in debt and that he wants to fix its organizational problems before taking on its messaging.

Brulte and other Republicans want to focus on what they call the GOP's core values, which they say align closely with those of the state's growing ethnic populations.