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Posted on 09/29/2003 8:20:17 PM PDT by South40
LOS ANGELES -- Republican recall-election gubernatorial candidate Tom McClintock bowed out of a political campaign 17 years ago and lived to regret it, which may be one reason he is so loathe to concede the Republican gubernatorial recall race to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
State Sen. McClintock was the youngest member of the California Assembly in 1986 when he launched a run to succeed former Rep. Bobbi Fiedler, R-Northridge. McClintock knew if he won the GOP primary in the heavily Republican district, the position was most likely his.
McClintock dropped out of the race, however, after comedian Bob Hope's son jumped in. McClintock figured that he couldn't overcome the financial and name-recognition advantages that Tony Hope had.
Little-known Simi Valley Mayor Elton Gallegly stayed in the race, upset Hope in the primary and went on to win the general election. He's been the district's congressman ever since.
"I think that race left a bitter taste in his mouth," former McClintock aide Eric Rose said recently.
"Every day, I regret that decision," McClintock told the Los Angeles Times months after the election.
McClintock has consistently resisted pressure from fellow Republicans to drop out of the gubernatorial race and leave the field open to Republican front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger.
McClintock says he believes he still has a chance to win and, in any case, won't break a promise he made to his supporters to stay in the race until the end.
If it bothered him then, he's for sure not going to like the results of this campaign.
Yep he deserves a great big "Certificate of Participation " .
Tom needs to read the polls more clearly
in any case, won't break a promise he made to his supporters to stay in the race until the end.
So, he made mutually exclusive promises, one to supporters and one to Issa ... not a smart move, he should have known Issa would go public with the 'I won't be a spoiler' stuff. Anyway, it looks more and more like even if he stays in A.S. wins. I think at this point his candidacy may be a positive ensuring strong conservative turnout to vote YES on Q1 and bounce Davis.
If Arnold wins without him his concession speach will determine his political future. I don't believe that A.S. and his team will be spiteful as long as McC doesn't take the 'loyal opposition' approach AFTER the election. This could be his spring board to the US Senate, I hope he and his team remember that.
Hopefully, that's true, as Tom's bent on staying in regardless how far behind he is. What worries me though is the large number of undecideds. If they go to Arnold, he wins. If they go to Tom, Arnold wins. If they go to cruz he can win. Scary.
Ray Haynes Endorsement[snip]...Tom was not at those meetings, and Darrell asked me what I thought Tom would do if he financed the recall. I told him I didn't know, but Darrell would have a persuading argument to ask him to step aside, since Tom could not have made it work without Darrell's help. I know Darrell talked to Tom about not running. Tom ultimately decided not to reconsider. Issa is a strong conservative, and was, more than any other, responsible for the success of the recall, but Tom's believed he should be Governor. That was one of the principal reasons (though not the only one) Darrell chose not to run. We lost a solid conservative, who could have financed his own campaign, and got a solid conservative who could not, because Tom believed he was entitled to the Governor's office. [end snip]
Dropping oput left a bad
taste in my mouth.
I won't do it again.
Dropping oput left a bad
taste in my mouth.
I won't do it again.
Yep that sounds about right. But hey what's wrong with having a so called Republican that's been bought and paid for by the Casinos and Cocktail swilling, country club going conservatives of Colorado. I mean it's not like those neighboring states aren't trying to take away our jobs. . .
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