[gcruse]

I think you're right. In addition, whoever the governor is, they are going to have to cut spending and reduce services mightily to get the budget under control, then keep spending limited for years. There is no way Davis' replacement will be anything other than hated by Californians addicted to the nanny state, that is to say, most of them. Let Davis stay in office and take the heat, or let him resign and the democrat lieutenant governor take the heat. Republicans have little to gain by taking on the beast before it reaches critical mass.

[rellimpank]

--exactly. Let the Demotraitors stew in their own mess til the slate can be wiped clean both in the executive and the legislative branches--

[SierraWasp]

Well... I'm sorry to disagree with you and I'm not trying to be disagreeable, but... your opinion may be abject nonsense! There is just as great, if not a far greater opportunity for CA to be saved by a new Repub Governor almost as directly and quickly as Iraq's regime change was accomplished.

Maybe you have difficulty thinking positively, but it would be so good of you to set an example for other FReepers and Lurkers by at least giving it the old college try. Try it, you'll like it!!! It can work and it will!!!

Please don't exhibit the very attitude that perpetually causes conservative Repubs to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. More of this political crap is based on the mere force of faith and belief than objective observers wish to "believe." A huge amount is based on theatrics and momentum as well. It must start with a persistent and determined "belief" much akin to religious ferver!!! (I'm sorry to say)(this is also why Dems fear religious conservatives so much)

[old school]

You non-Californians just don't get it! This isn't about some broader republican political strategy! This petition wouldn't have even qualified for the ballot, had it not been for cross-spectrum disaffection with this *sshole, megalomaniac, governor! Whether a republican succeeds him or not, California can't lose anything it never had!

[Carry_Okie]

Let Davis stay in office and take the heat, or let him resign and the democrat lieutenant governor take the heat. Republicans have little to gain by taking on the beast before it reaches critical mass.

More support for a ridiculous and destructive political theory. The measures Davis will sign, as opposed to a veto by a Republican governor, will chase Republicans out of this state. By the time the Slave Party is done, the situation will be so bad here there won't be enough of a conservative constituency to take over when it all crashes.

You are forgetting the mess Ronald Reagan inherited from Pat Brown.

I'll bet you're one of those helpful folks who tell conservatives to leave this State too. Shilling for Texas are you?

[CIB-173RDABN]

"...cut spending and reduce services mightily ..

---

I am a California Voter. I would support any candidate that would cut spending and reduce services mightily...

[daviddennis]

Other than public employees - especially union members - I'm not sure how many people gain from the nanny state as we have it.

I'm frankly embarassed at the quality of government services in this state. Every other state I've been to (Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, etc) has appeared to have a more together government with better services, and yet taxes and property values in all those states are much lower.

If the new governor simply points out that he's cutting back on services that were too lousy to use anyway, he might get a lot more points than you are thinking.

Remember, Gray Davis, unbelievable as this may seem now, ran as a fiscal conservative!

D