I totally agree - that IS a ridiculous premise. But, let's follow it to both possible outcomes.
If Tom wipes the floor with Arnold, you'll see maybe a 1/2 percent swing in votes. California voters are smart enough to realize that McClintock can't win no matter how many cute debating tricks he knows, and the Indian gambling money scandal will continue to bleed off even more of his already miniscule support.
Conversely, if Arnold rhetorically breaks Tijuana Tom in half like a matchstick, he'll pick up about half of the "committed" McClintock voters. They'll finally see that they're supporting a pig in a poke. The hardcore kooks will either stay home or waste their vote on the 7th.
These are the same people who voted in Davis, you understand.
If that is evidence of intelligence, it is intelligence of a very exotic and perplexing type.
You left out the possibility Davis remains in office due to generic voter turnoff by Arnold and Busta. In strela-world, this of course implies that Arnold and Busta are willing collaborators and pawns of the evil dastardly mastermind Gray Davis!
Hey strela-- can you smell what the Gray One is cookin'?
(Obligatory sheesh ;-)
With "conservatives" like "Arnie's Angels" on FR these days, hey, who needs liberals???
;-)