You miss the point. Schwarzenegger may well be more detrimental to California and the nation than either recall failing or Bustamante being elected.
"In liberalizing the Republican Party, liberals have two parties to do their bidding. What they do from without -- pressuring Republicans to compromise their principles -- Schwarzenegger can do from within." --- George Neumayr
You said, "Schwarzenegger may well be more detrimental to California and the nation than either recall failing or Bustamante being elected."
Substitute "would" for the words "may well" in your sentence mentally. The difference between your sentence as you wrote it and after the subsitution is of miniscule dimension.
Please think of what you are saying, and what sort of people agree with your statement. Boxer, Feinstein, Davis, and Streisand for four.