Posted on 08/31/2003 10:37:13 AM PDT by Andrew65
IS ARNOLD’S WEAKNESS McCLINTOCK’S FAULT?
by
Andrew Russo
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s failure to move beyond the 22 to 25% range in
most recent California surveys is sending the Republican Party’s country-club
establishment into panic. Arnold, after all, fits their mold perfectly. A so-called
“fiscal conservative,” but “social moderate,” the Terminator was supposed to be
the Great White Hope of the comatose California GOP. We all know that true
conservative Republicans can’t win general elections in the Golden State, so
the Republican rank-and-file were supposed to play “good soldiers,” follow the
lead of the moneyed party elite, and joyfully climb aboard the Arnold Express for
the only train back to the Statehouse.
Well, as is usually the case, the GOP establishment was wrong. Their
Great White Hope isn’t quite catching on. Between his questionable choice of
advisors ( one a prominent Democrat who wants to scuttle Prop. 13 ) and his
liberal views on a host of issues, ranging from abortion, gun control, and “gay
marriage,” to his support of new high-spending big government programs ( i.e.,
Prop. 49 ), the Terminator is a hard pill for the hard core to swallow. And, if the
polls are correct, they’re not swallowing.
The Los Angeles Times poll showed Schwarzenegger drawing only 39% of
the Republican vote. This despite the fact he’s a household name, a movie
celebrity in the state where Hollywood is king, the massive media buildup prior to
his announcement ( “Will he or won’t he?” ), and the subsequent “Arnoldmania”
that has swept the state. Yet, fewer than four in ten Republicans in California are
biting.
This fact alone proves once again that the Republican elite is all wet and
that it’s the grassroots Republicans—the precinct walkers and envelope-lickers—
who are the real representatives of the state GOP. It proves conclusively that one
endorsement from the California Republican Assembly is worth a thousand
endorsements from the Lincoln Club of Orange County.
Now, the party bigwigs are desperate to save Arnold. As Bustamante roars
ahead of the Terminator, are the bigwigs having second thoughts about the
actor-turned-politician they have put their money on? Have they seen the light
and are they perhaps reconsidering? No way. This gang is temperamentally
incapable of admitting error. They have decided instead that the only way to
salvage their political mistake is to demand that the real Republican in the race
for Governor, State Sen. Tom McClintock, drop out and toss a life preserver to
their golden boy.
Yet, why is Arnold’s weakness the fault of Tom McClintock?
Is it McClintock’s fault that Arnold’s negatives are almost as high as his
positives?
The truth is that voters are beginning to recognize that the Hollywood
megastar is, to use Texas terminology, all hat and no cattle. Any individual who
seeks to be governor of California but has to seclude himself for ten days with
consultants and counselors to tell him what to think simply cannot be taken
seriously. You just can’t cram for the governorship of the nation’s largest state
( and one that’s suffering the worst financial crisis in history ) like you would for a
10th grade history exam.
Tom McClintock doesn’t need anyone to tell him what to think or what to
say. Motivated by a strong Jeffersonian philosophy of limited government and
with a twenty-year track record of carefully dissecting the problems confronting
California, Tom is perhaps overqualified to be governor. And, look what his
dark-horse candidacy has accomplished in less than a month:
With a limited campaign budget ( and no personal fortune to pour into
the contest ), a small staff, and no box office sensations to his credit, Tom
McClintock is quickly becoming the candidate to watch in the Recall race.
Doubling his voter strength in the Times poll in just a few weeks, McClintock is
generating the kind of enthusiasm and excitement among rank-and-file
Republicans not seen since Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for governor in 1966.
Actually outraising Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean on the
Internet, the insurgent Thousand Oaks Senator is attracting the support of
Californians fed up with the deceit and doubletalk of conventional politicians and
seeking a breath of fresh air. McClintock offers them that and more: he’s an
authentic populist who, if elected, will shake California’s political establishment
to the core.
And, isn’t that what the Gray Davis Recall is all about? A true populist
uprising against the same kind of corrupt politicians beholden to special interests
that Hiram Johnson, father of the recall provision, railed against in the early
1900s.
With an agenda that is simple and direct, Tom McClintock is rallying
Californians fed up with high taxes, out-of-control spending, a laughable public
school system, and stifling bureaucracy. He is offering hope to voters in a state
where cynicism reigns. He is speaking Truth to Power. And, in the year of the
unprecedented Recall election in this, the trend-setter of states, that could just be
the ticket to victory.
Andrew Russo is a California political consultant and former Executive Director of The Lincoln Club of Monterey County
Welcome to FR.
Pounded? He lost by less than 5%. And the evidence indicates now that more than 5% of the votes were illegal. Besides that, the CAGOP didn't want Simon, so they didn't go out of their way to campaign for him.
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