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If McClintock cannot do that, then if he claims to be a "Republican Party Man", he must throw his support to Schwarzeneggar to remain true to his Word and his chosen Party (since I myself am NOT a Registered Party-Man Republican, I don't have to worry about these things -- I'd just vote pro-life Libertarian or Constitution; but I respect McClintock's partisan desire to see a GOP man in the CA governor's mansion).

I don't think it works this way. I don't think McClintock voters will all go to Arnie. Maybe half. If even that much. A lot of them would probably vote for Davis/Bustamonte if they vote at all. They won't see any advantage to feeding the RINOs. Because there isn't any. It's political suicide for conservatives.

But if McClintock can do that -- gain around 1% per day, every day, for the next three weeks -- then Schwarzenegger, if HE claims to be a "Republican Party Man", MUST throw his support to McClintock.

The man of honor and principle almost always loses when he offers such a challenge to an unprincipled opponent.

Besides, the absentee ballots are already coming in. Some of those votes are already trickling away.

Hopefully, Davis will beat the recall, Cali can continue to simmer in its own liberal juices until the next regular election and McClintock can run then.

Conservatives should not support RINOs. Especially not blatant RINOs that want to thwart or overthrow the national party's platform. (Whitman, Pataki, Arnie, etc.)

I do think you miss one point here. If McClintock does a campaignus interruptus, he is well-aware that over half of his voters will either not vote or would vote to continue inflicting Davis/Bustamonte on the state to teach the RINOs they can never win with a RINO candidate. In this scenario, McClintock's supporters end up contributing 5% to 8% of the vote, leaving Arnie short of victory. Then McClintock is still a party loyalist and not a spoiler but still keeps Arnie out of the governorship and keeps his shot at governor open for '06.

I would suggest that McClintock is a much smarter and less principled conservative than what you hint at.

In this scenario, McClintock's supporters end up contributing 5% to 8% of the vote, leaving Arnie short of victory. Then McClintock is still a party loyalist and not a spoiler but still keeps Arnie out of the governorship and keeps his shot at governor open for '06.

Possible... and you're right, I had not considered that.

Entirely possible.