[Poohbah]

On the contrary, his strategy for keeping Arnold out and positioning himself for 2006 shows immense political competence and savvy.

Except that he will not reap the rewards, because there is no way in hell that the 90% of the GOP voter base he enraged this go-around will vote for him in the primary.

And if he looked like he actually had a chance to win, those tribal-gaming-funded ads would simply evaporate, and be replaced with ads questioning trumpeting his "extremism."

Unless, of course, he simply indicated to the tribes that whatever they wanted from a McClintock goobernership would be delivered promptly and courteously, with a smile.

I thought America was about government of, by, and for the people, not of, by, and for a narrow slice of priveleged-by-ethnicity gambling barons.

[traditionalist]

Except that he will not reap the rewards, because there is no way in hell that the 90% of the GOP voter base he enraged this go-around will vote for him in the primary.

You overestimate the attention span of the average voter.