Posted on 04/24/2005 9:41:55 AM PDT by AVNevis
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) - State Sen. Tom McClintock, the rock-ribbed conservative who made headlines two years ago when he ignored his fellow Republicans' pleas to drop out of the race to replace Gov. Gray Davis and leave the field open for Arnold Schwarzenegger, is getting an early start in the 2006 race for lieutenant governor.
Campaigning in Orange County on Saturday, McClintock told members of the group Principles Over Politics that the job appeals to him because the lieutenant governor presides over the state Senate and is California's chief executive whenever the governor is out of state.
"It places the office in the position of being a great generator of reforms," McClintock said. He also defended Schwarzenegger against complaints that in recent weeks he has backed off efforts to overhaul the state's pension system and institute tighter budget controls after his proposals came under sharp criticism.
"We have to bear in mind that political battles aren't tidy affairs," he said.
McClintock and Schwarzenegger were at odds for a time in 2003 when the legislator became the only major Republican to refuse to drop out of the race to replace Davis if he was recalled after Schwarzenegger became the front-runner to replace him. The two put those differences aside last year when Schwarzenegger campaigned for McClintock's re-election to the state Senate.
McClintock is making his fourth campaign for statewide office, having lost the gubernatorial race in 2003 and two previous bids for state controller. First elected to the state Assembly in 1982 at age 26, he served there until 1992 and again from 1996 to 2000. First elected to the state Senate in 2000, term limits will prevent him from seeking another term there in 2008.
He is the first Republican to announce his candidacy lieutenant governor in 2006.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Good God! Talk about a guy who can't get off the public teet! I thought California had a 'three strikes and out' law? This will be his fouth loss.
I would rather see him wait and then run for the Senate in 2008. A loss in '06 would be difficult to overcome.
Better to be a loser on principle than a winner who is the bitch of the assembly. I'm sure you know of whom I speak.
Go Arnold, GO! Cause' McClintock needs Arnold's coattails to win in '06.
He's had more than a few victories too, winning Assembly races in 82, 84, 86, 88, 90, 96, 98 and then winning Senate races in 2000 and 2004.
God bless him for his dedication to public service. 80% of the other people who want to run for office are out to tax you into perpetual servitude. Only a handful are willing to take the lousy pay and thankless job of serving in the minority in order to make life better for the rest of us.
Tom McClintock is one of the last true American Statesmen. If he had been born 230 years earlier he would have been one of the founding fathers.
Yes, from all that I know of McClintock, he is a genuine statesman. My friends in California, however, old me of how the California GOP tried to run him out of the gubernatorial recall. One talk radio commentator even went so far as to call McClintock a "communist."
It was just the RINOs who had bubbled to the top of the CRP. Tom has a HUGE amount of supporters among the CRP rank and file -- the people who actually do the work (read:conservatives).
I agree -- but he has one problem -- he looks wierd on camera. That may not have been a problem 230 years ago, but it is now. He can't seem to focus and his eyes look like the pod people from Dark Crystal.
This may seem mean and shallow, but it is true and it is what is holding him back.
ps: I love Tom and agree he is a true statesman. On radio he is a world beater.
Not only did he lose by only a fraction of a percent, but he was outspent 5 to 1.
My nephew, who is in his late twenties, watched the guber debates during the recall campaigns. He doesn't live in Califronia, but told me that he thought that McClintock was the only one was made any sense.
His loss record comes from his statewide efforts - efforts where all, not just a handpicked group of citizens get a chance to vote on his record.
Well, he did throw in with the democrat's candidate in order to stop the reform movement of Arnold. I wouldn't exactly call him a socialist though. McClintock is simply the most self-serving candidate.
LOL. Keep sipping that koolaid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.