Posted on 07/21/2006 8:01:27 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
State Sen. Tom McClintock still wants the governor's job, he admitted Thursday, but there's already a well-known Republican in line for that seat.
For now, McClintock hopes Californians will choose him for the No. 2 job and confirm his belief that the state is at a "crisis or turning point." As long as voters are paying attention to the state's spending problems and education and infrastructure woes, he thinks they'll see things his way and pick him as lieutenant governor.
"I believe this election will determine whether the recall of 2003 was a passing fluke," he said during an editorial board meeting at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside. "This really is a very clear choice."
McClintock, a Thousand Oaks Republican, ran on the recall ballot along with Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003. Schwarzenegger won that election with 48.6 percent of the vote and became governor; McClintock got 13.5 percent of the vote.
Schwarzenegger is running for governor again as the GOP nominee, telling people he wants to finish implementing the changes voters called for in 2003.
McClintock, who is more conservative than Schwarzenegger, backed the governor against conservative critics earlier this year and praised him repeatedly Thursday for his attention to infrastructure and the deficit. Other conservatives complained earlier this year when Schwarzenegger added high-profile Democrats to his administration.
McClintock said there's still much to be done to fix roads and schools that were neglected for years and to rein in spending that spun out of control under Schwarzenegger's predecessor, Gov. Davis, a Democrat. And McClintock thinks Republicans like himself, conservatives with a hands-off, Libertarian-inspired approach to much of government, are the best ones to do the job.
Never mind that there are more registered Democrats in the state and the Democratic Party controls both houses of the Legislature. McClintock said he thinks voters are ready to make a radical change and put Republicans in the top two seats in state government.
He faces a tough battle for lieutenant governor against a well-known Democrat, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, in November. Garamendi, whose campaign did not return a phone call Thursday, strikes similar themes in his campaign platform, pledging to improve education, invest in infrastructure and create a more efficient health-care system.
Garamendi is "hard-wired into the Democratic machine and that's hard to beat," said Shaun Bowler, a political science professor at UC Riverside. "He's sort of a pretty popular kind of guy."
McClintock said there are clear differences between himself and Garamendi in how they want to accomplish those objectives. McClintock said he believes in less government regulation, less state spending and lower taxes. More efficient government coupled with more free enterprise can help the state get there, he said.
Bowler said the odds are stacked against McClintock, but his ability to perform well previously in a statewide race -- he narrowly lost the controller's race in 2002 -- may indicate he has a chance. "He came across as very sincere -- what you see is what you get, a no-spin kind of guy," he said.
plenty of us would love to see Cali elect a conservative statewide....
Here's hoping.....Tom, you have my vote.
"McClintock, who is more conservative than Schwarzenegger, backed the governor against conservative critics earlier this year and praised him repeatedly Thursday for his attention to infrastructure and the deficit. Other conservatives complained earlier this year when Schwarzenegger added high-profile Democrats to his administration. "
Apparently the CAGOP isn't paying close attention.
There is no need to ping conservatives on the California topic. They're here all the time and they read almost all the articles without urging.
The pinging usually starts when our Republican guests, usually moderates, start attacking their conservative hosts. The word is spread quickly.
"Republicans are attacking conservatives!" spreads rapidly and topic regulars spring to the defense. This is especially common when the CAGOP starts an attack and then pings other Republican partisans from across the nation to join in the attack against the conservative hosts.
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)
I hope he wins this race because I very much want to see him take the handoff from Arnold in 2010
Tom needs Arnold to win strong, so that voters who are not used to voting Republican, will pull the lever for them BOTH.
Exactly.
As Scott Baugh, former GOP state legislator and now chairman of the Orange County Republican Party was quoted in antother article:
"Like other conservatives, Baugh hopes that a Schwarzenegger re-election this fall will give the state GOP what he calls a bench,a conservative benchTom McClintock as lieutenant governor and Chuck Poochigian as attorney general. Both candidates are strong conservatives across-the-board and rated better than even chances to emerge triumphant over far-left Democratic foes this November. "
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1643459/posts
Amerigomag: "There is no need to ping conservatives on the California topic."
Well, there is a McClintock ping list that calcowgirl pings occastionally. She said:
"I ping news about McClintock and writings by McClintock.
That is what most freepers told me they want to read when put on the list. "
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1664112/posts?page=20#20
But she didn't say that those on the McC ping list requested that they only wanted to be pinged when McC disagrees with Arnold, but don't want to find out about McC's statements, when they are supportive of Arnold. So one would think this is exactly the kind of article, to which they would want to be pinged.
OMG! It was a whole 12 hour delay in pinging out a McClintock article!
There must be a conspiracy! There must be some reason I didn't ping it out!
Or... could it just be that I wasn't around a computer all day?
Of course I would ping this, FO. It definitely fits the subject matter for the McClintock Ping List.
Yesireee.
Pulleeese keep me on this ping list, but for gosh sakes, why did'ja hafta ping me to this particular one? I only like the ones where there are subliminal messages of gutteral disgust against the militant muddled moderate Gubernator cause I so detest his existance in CA politics under the "R" banner!!!
I certainly wish you could read my mind on these matters as well as so many others do... I mean, after all!!! (snort!)
Yeah right, Tom... Between DUMB & DUMBER!!!
I'm speaking of the two Gubernatorial uncandid candidates, lest anyone misunderstand! The race for Lt. Guber is between the very best and the very worst!!!
ROFL! Sorry!
Since I can't read your mind, I just ping 'em if they are "news" or something written by Tom.
That means ya get the good, the bad, and the ugly!
How can you claim to support McClintock, when you are so disrespectful of his opinion.
"McClintock, who is more conservative than Schwarzenegger, backed the governor against conservative critics earlier this year and praised him repeatedly Thursday for his attention to infrastructure and the deficit."
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