[nwrep]

ping

[prarie earth]

Ubberroth's probably next.

[July 4th]

More: Does not endorse Schwarzenegger, but this is seen as a "tacit endorsement."

[kellynla]

EXCELLENT! VOTE4MCCLINTOCK or pay$ the con$equence$! http://www.tommcclintock.com

[dogbyte12]

This is good news. Bill Simon was in second place as the conservative candidate. He had no prayer. Good he steps down before wasting money.

Could be a good 3 way race now.

[jocon307]

HA! From my lips to God's ears. I wish I'd had a side-bet on this.

No offense to Mr. Simon, but he just didn't deserve a do-over. I don't think Uberroth is any more important than Huffington, in all reality, again, no offense inteneded.

Then there were two.

[Dan from Michigan]

Good. Simon had his chance for governor.

[The Radical Capitalist]

Two time loser.

[kellynla]

PING! EXCELLENT NEWS FOR MCCLINTOCK! http://www.tommcclintock.com

[rface]

I am surprised..... the Repubs want to win this

[Republic If You Can Keep It]

OK, McClintock, take the cue........

And Arnold will be in!

[DoughtyOne]

While I think Simon's act was definately the right thing to do, I like the guy and am sorry it had to come to this. And yes, it had to come to this.

Bill, thank you. I think you did the right thing. All the best to you and your lovely family.

[medscribe]

As I predicted yesterday, both Simon and McClintock will be out of the race by Labor Day. One down, one to go. As for the LA Times poll, it's about as believable as any coming from a liberal rag.

[Mr. Mojo]

That was quick. I thought he'd hold out a little longer. Let's hope he stays away from politics for good now.

[VU4G10]

McClintock YES!, . . but Arnolh' over Busta!

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Simon dropping out also must mean the Dems are having a hard time finding any real dirt on Arnold.

[alloysteel]

And things start coming into focus. Maybe all but four or five of the candidates were in the race sheerly for vanity reasons, and one of those has withdrawn. It comes down to Davis, Bustamante, Arnold and McClintock, with nobody else ever expected to poll more than low single digits.

The Democrats still have a problem, with the 'Greens' hot on the idea of steering the whole dialogue further and further into their vision of a new Neolithic age.

Davis is STILL not lovable.

[SteveH]

McClintock still has his two vehicle license fee rollback initiatives in his political quiver. They both have been approved by the Calif. SoS last week, and McClintock is biding his time until the forms are printed, sometime next week. The campaign strategy is likely to be something along the lines of piggybacking and drawing synergy from the rollback initiative campaigns... watch for a big kickoff announcement next week... media will be forced to cover it and give McClintock a fresh look as a public figure who has consistently (in contrast to Arnold) been working for fiscal conservative causes at the state level for many years running. I think (?) the license fee increases actually start landing on people around Oct. 1, so that is another milestone date that the media will be forced to spotlight McClintock and his initiatives on. And Arnold can always stumble on his lines a la Simon last campaign season, so it is not at all clear (at least, to me) that McClintock should be counted as out of the race at all. (What am I missing?)

[Moonmad27]

If this is true, thank heaven he dropped out. I voted for him last time, but with what he's done lately, he seemed to be in the race just out of egotism, and was not focusing on defeating Davis or Bustamante. With friends like that, California Republicans don't need enemies.

[BibChr]

Good.

I think probably McC should drop now. It would be reasonable, at least, to say that if he isn't within 5 points of Schw in, what, a week or two? — he too should drop.

Dan