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Posted on 09/07/2003 9:49:24 PM PDT by yonif
It is clear from events in the past several days that state Sen. Tom McClintock has captured the momentum in the California Governor's race. Whether it was the candidate's debate, where McClintock articulated clear and concise responses to questions posed, Arnold's avoidance of the debate and pleas for more time to explain his views, Bustamante's inability to distinguish himself while accepting questionable millions from Indian gaming interests, or Davis's cynical Spanish-media-only signing of SB60, or a combination, McClintock has gained in the polls.
An August 28 interview on "The Big Story" with John Gibson included the following exchange:
GIBSON: You see the polls, though. If all of that is true, if you think the voters of California are a bit more conservative than we have thought up to this moment, why does Arnold have such a huge lead? I mean, you score well. But he's got a huge lead.
MCCLINTOCK: Actually in the three major polls in this state, he has been stuck in the mid-to-low 20s ever since he entered the race. He is not showing any momentum. Meanwhile, I've gone from an asterisk to double-digits in the span of just three weeks. The directors of all the three major polls were on the air just yesterday saying, "The only candidate we're seeing momentum from was McClintock."
GIBSON: So you actually think you are going to overtake not only Bustamante, but Schwarzenegger?
MCCLINTOCK: Yes, if the trend continues, that's exactly what I think.
Once the darling only of the California talk radio circuit, McClintock has taken his nuts-and-bolts ability to explain government dysfunction, corrective action, honest solutions, and fiscal awareness in an understandable, persuasively-polished package, to a national media thirsting for coverage of 2003's biggest story.
In opportunity after opportunity, McClintock improves and sharpens his talent to clarify the minutia and history on each topic in the state's fiscal and cultural nightmare, while providing real solutions none of the other candidates could even dream of expressing. And why shouldn't he? He lives and breathes this stuff, then goes home every night to his wife and kids.
In listening to Tom on an almost daily basis across the Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco AM band, I sense that he is well aware of the momentum change in what he perceives to be an American political renaissance of sorts. And he is lying in wait for debate and the opportunity to test his ideas, not necessarily his ideology, on the other candidates.
Literally, Arnold wants nothing to do with McClintock as he knows he cannot compete with McClintock's sophisticated level of political acumen. Davis, ever the control freak, would get clobbered as well, so he'll hunker down just like Arnold, avoiding confrontation with the one aspect they both fear: exposing their weaknesses to the voters.
Bustamante knows that McClintock is direct in his positions on bringing Proposition 187 back to the courts, knows that McClintock has effective arguments to nullify the car tax, fears McClintock's skewering of the poorly-handled SB60 issue, and most importantly, is fully conscious of how quickly his own vague campaign could dissolve if the $8 billion tax increase he advocates was dissected by an effective debater.
More importantly, Democrats, Bustamante and Davis, try as they might, fail miserably in depicting McClintock as a racist, anti-immigrant brown-shirt (a tactic employed on Arnold). Likewise, dirt-seeking Democratic consultants (such as Garry South, Bob Mulholland and Chris Lehane) have come up empty while shoveling for seamy stories about booze, women and drugs.
Yesterday during a rally in Temecula, McClintock laid it out as clearly as he could for the throng of supporters, stating he's "always placed my principles above party," and "I am in this race to the finish line," emphasizing that he will not step aside for Arnold.
McClintock's boring, but he's also ethical and principled, a long-missing character trait in California politics. Arnold has scheduled a Sept. 10 appearance on the O'Reilly Factor. It better be good, or it will be Arnold coming on-board with the McClintock team in order to help the Republicans avoid splitting the vote, not the other way around as all of punditry had suggested just one week back.
How quickly things can change.
[The author can be reached at Patrick@newsmax.com.]
I was never that wild about prop 187. But an interesting fact that got lost in the shuffle, buried really, was that Anglo Californians and Mexican American Californians both supported 187 in about the same percentage, 60-40.
The press ran the survey and then buried it. The professional hispanics got out and organized marches which the press hyped and the fact that hispanic Californians actually agreed with it got flushed down the memory hole.
If you support 187 you are a racist, and no one will ever ask hispanics what they think of it again, not without some serious prep first.
No, but considering the Doofus's polls right after the election, I am convinced he wasn't really chosen legally if you know what I mean!
Oh yes, and that is why we are all so scared that Hillary will be President some day soon! :-)
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