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I never had that thought cross my mind once. The conservative was clearly McClintock, and I say what I said then; He didn’t stand a chance in hell of winning.

Yes an no.

The case for yes:

1) If the Austrian had not entered the race, Davis would not have been recalled.
2) Conservatives only represented about 15% of the voting electorate in 2003. McClintock would have been forced to make significant concessions to achieve a plurality.

The case for no:

1) Bustamante wasn't competitive, regardless of public polling, because of the ingrained, cultural bias in the electorate.
2) Had McClintock been the chief Republican candidate, the Democrats would have entered a high profile, non Hispanic candidate and split the Democrat vote.
3) The electorate was ready for a fiscal change and whomever the Democrats entered would have been perceived as SOS.

As things turned out the Democrats and the Republicans were both winners. The Republicans, who early-on wanted nothing to do with the Recall, got rid of Davis and the Democrats got another liberal in the executive.