Here’s the vote totals from that election:
Recall Governor
Yes
4,976,274
55.4%
No
4,007,783
44.6%
Selection:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, REP
4,206,284
48.6%
Cruz M. Bustamante, DEM
2,724,874
31.5%
Tom McClintock, REP
1,161,287
13.5%
Even if we could have pulled 17% off Schwarzenegger’s total, a tough thing to do, that would have left us in a virtual dead heat.
Polls before the election made it very clear that wasn’t going to happen.
If Schwarzenegger had faltered and it looked close, he would have lost Democrat votes too. Then Bustamante would have done better.
How does McClintock win? With a little over 1 in every 8 votes going to McClintock, it’s clear he couldn’t have won if every FReeper swung to him and shouted from the mountain tops.
McClintock and Arnold were both crass opportunists. They had nothing to do with making the recall happen.
Darrell Issa rightfully deserved the shot but didn’t run when he saw how these leeches would split the vote.
(And I like McClintock and did vote for him, but he was being an opportunist).