California IS Conservative

 With states such as Iowa or Connecticut passing laws which recognize gays marriages as being legal
- many thought voters in California would pass Prop. 8 giving gays the same rights as non-gays in the forum of marriage.

 With laws which allow medical marijuana already in place, many thought that California would vote in favor of Prop. 19 in such a left-leaning state. (There is no Cannabis Lobby group which could regulate production and taxes on the product.)

But most people only know California from their own limited perspective, or what they've heard or read, or by what they've seen on TV.
But California is a conservative state.
Iconic Conservative presidents such as Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Gerald ford called the state home. (Although only Nixon was born there.)
TBN is based there.
Arnold was the governor of the Democrat-leaning state.
Military bases abound.
Generally speaking, people there vote more on policy than on party.
And the proposed policies on Gay Marriage and/or Legalized Marijuana just didn't jibe with the public-think at the time.
California is still a Conservative state.