[Maelstrom]

"You can be a conservative and still win elections-"

Good, fine, we agree here.

"You can't govern unless you are elected."

Not true, but let's just say we agree to disagree because it isn't that important in the current scheme of things.

"What good are Principles if you are sitting on the sidelines having absolutely no say in how the government is run?"

Ah well, without principles, you aren't a conservative...which really does end the debate. You don't need to be "pure" you just need to articulate and stand by your principles. Afterall as despicable as Liberals' principles are, they do articulate, stand by and enact those princples.

Oh...and there's the other problem. It's a brain-dead solution to try to articulate, stand by, and enact Liberal principles and proclaim it a victory for conservatism.

[nyconse]

I don't consider Arnold a liberal. He is for prop 187 and decsribes himself as a fiscal conservative. The after school progam he started did not cost the tax-payers any money nor did it increase the size of government. A pure conservative would be against abortion. Arnold is not. However, I don't think ruling a candidate out on one issue that he can not have any effect on is wise. Especially when I hear there are 1 million more Dems than Repubs in CA.