Schwarzenegger's candidacy energizes unlikely voters

AP ^ | Aug 13, 2003

[george wythe]

But with the entrance of movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger into the California recall election, LaRue is taking notice.

"The only thing that appeals to me is that he has his own money," said the 20-year-old college student. "He could do what he wants, if he gets elected."

[george wythe]

"I think the biggest surge of inquiries was after (Schwarzenegger's) announcement," said Cathy McClue, Fresno County's assistant registrar of voters. "A lot of the callers think they have to be registered Republican to vote Republican."

We might be able to improve the California Republican voters.

In 2002, California registered voters were:

45% Democrats
35%Republicans
15% independent
5% other (Libertarians, Greens, etc)

[EternalVigilance]

Filed under: 'Silver Linings'.

[capt. norm]

I think a lot of people who have never voted before will vote for Arnold because he is someone they feel like they know.

Many people are completely bored and turned off by politics and politicians and for these people, he is not a part of that mess.....yet.

[george wythe]

2002: California political races depending more on voters with no affiliation

In the last six years the percentage of voters in California registering as Democrats has dropped more than two points to slightly less than 45 percent. Republican registration has declined during the same time period by a bit less than two points to about 35 percent. A few voters have become Libertarians or Greens, but the biggest jump has been Decline to State: rising from 10.6 percent six years ago to 14.76 percent today.

[rightazrain]

"The bottom line: Schwarzenegger has to out-muscle Jesse (Ventura) when it comes to lifting a whole new group of voters into the electoral process," Jacobs said.

This statement is bull hockey! All it takes for Arnold to win is for Davis to be recalled, and then for Ah-nold to get one more vote than any other candidate on the ballot.

[thulldud]

A lot of the callers think they have to be registered Republican to vote Republican."

Are we worried yet?

[TheDon]

Hmmm... I wonder if it will also energize Freepers.

[FairOpinion]

"Traditional voters would be less likely to cast their ballot for Schwarzenegger because of his relatively light political background, he said."

---

This is utter nonsense and apparently wishful thinking on the part of the author.

[mrtysmm]

That sounds like a big 'plus' for Arnold. Just the fact that they're asking the question means there are a lot of 'unaccounted for' votes going his way.

[My2Cents]

I'm a bit concerned that this is attracting the ignorant and the usually politically apathetic into the Republican Party. These people are typically worse than Democrats.

[edchambers]

I am in favor of anything that gets more people involved in the process.For decades we have been the most powerfull democracy in the world yet our voter turn out was sickening.My hope is that the presidential election of 2000 and this recall will convince people that thier votes really do matter.Hopefully people will start paying attention to politics and vote intelligently.Then again it could all backfire and we could get every welfare mother in the country voting straight Democrat.

[FairOpinion]

"To this day, I'm still waiting for Arnold to declare a platform. That would be a good start. "

Why don't you read this:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/963532/posts

[My2Cents]

I agree with you, particularly if voters are informed and are voting out of some process of weighing the options. Typically, a turnout of around 50% is considered good (in a statewide election). If the other 50% are too unmotivated to vote, or too ignorant about issues and candidates to get out and vote, frankly, I don't want their ignorance cancelling out my informed choice.

This is the great thing about our system -- if 50% of people choose not to vote, they don't have to. And it's no tragedy if they don't.

[Hildy]

Isn't it too late to register to vote in the recall?

[george wythe]

Ballot choices not so easy for conservatives

"Voters hate to think their votes are being wasted, which is why I don't think you'll see any of the fringe candidates get a lot of votes," DiCamillo said. "If conservatives see Arnold as the viable candidate, it could detract from both" Simon and McClintock.

McClintock doesn't think so.

"This election will ultimately be decided by policy and not personality or even partisanship," he said in an interview Monday. "Voters aren't going to be awed by anyone. ... They will vote based on what they want for their futures."

McClintock said he wasn't worried about splitting the conservative vote with Simon, pointing out he received 103,000 more votes last year than Simon did in their statewide runs.

McClintock confirmed that he and Simon "met for coffee" last month but did not discuss the idea of one of them staying out of the race.

"It didn't come up because I had already said publicly that I wasn't interested in deferring to him," McClintock said.

Simon said Tuesday he also wasn't worried about splitting his natural voter base with McClintock, in part because McClintock's campaign might not be able to keep up financially.

"In this state, you need the resources, and I don't think Tom is going to be able to raise the necessary money to run a real strong campaign, but we'll see," Simon said.

But McClintock said he isn't concerned about being outspent by the millionaire Simon, who loaned his failed gubernatorial campaign $10 million last year.

"We've raised $300,000 in the past three weeks," McClintock said. "We raised $28,000 yesterday in small contributions. ... We'll be all right."

All of this is music to the ears of California Democrats, most of whom oppose Davis' recall but are putting their political eggs in the basket of Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante if the governor is ousted.

"This bodes very well for Cruz," said state Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres. "The more conservatives in the race to split up the vote, the better."

[sinkspur]

I have to reserve judgment on his candidacy until after I see him debate McClintock and Simon.

As long as he has a large lead, Arnold won't debate anybody but Davis.

There's no upside in it for him.