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A lot of Republicans support Arnold only because they believe the fiction that a conservative cannot win.

Irrelevant. A lot of the supporters of Arnold are cross-over moderate Democrats. To win California for the Republicans, you need the cross-over vote. Living here, I know many Democrats who are seriously considering voting for Arnold, but none of them considers McClintock a candidate they would vote for because he is way too socially conservative (ideologically) for their taste. Fiscal conservatives can do just fine in California all things considered.

Even if Arnold stepped out of the race, McClintock would only pick up maybe half of the votes currently going for Arnold. If McClintock stepped out of the race, Arnold would get almost all the supporters of McClintock in his camp.

Bottom line, the Republican that can attract the Democrat cross-overs in an election where you have a real chance at cross-over votes will be the only Republican that can win. Otherwise, you'll have a situation like the last gubernatorial election in California where the moderate cross-over crowd stayed home and the Democrats won by default by a minor margin.

Rule of law and friends, I understand where you're coming from, and deeply sympathise.

I agree that Arnold has some positions most of us don't care for.

But how about comparing them with those of the apparent front runner, Mr Bustamante?

I would argue that on virtually every point argued in post #121, Bustamante has significantly more radical positions, and would be considerably more likely to take action on them.

In any event, this election is not about gun control or abortion. This election is about saving our state from a terrible crisis.

And in that instance, you have to choose between someone who has staked his political future on not raising taxes, and someone who plans to protect his union friends by increasing them substantially.

If you want a union thug to win, by all means vote for McClintock or stay away from the polls. To me, that's a price way too high to pay.

I'm not asking Tom or anyone else to drop out of the race, not until a couple of weeks before the election. I don't think it's too early, though, to consider the impact a Bustamante win would have on the state.

I'm going to tell you, it won't be pretty. If you disagree, tell me a few Bustamante positions you feel are BETTER than Arnold's.

I'm waiting ...

D