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California recall: Does one man hold key? [McClintock]
Christian Science Monitor ^ | 9-25 | Christian Science Monitor

Posted on 09/25/2003 2:54:50 PM PDT by ambrose

The Christian Science Monitor - csmonitor.com

from the September 26, 2003 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0926/p01s03-uspo.html

California recall: Does one man hold key?

Tom McClintock, top GOP conservative, could tilt race for or against Arnold Schwarzenegger.

By Daniel B. Wood | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

BURBANK, CALIF. - Republican candidate Tom McClintock laughs from deep in the belly when asked if he will be the "spoiler" in the great populist revolution/experiment/circus of California's gubernatorial recall election.

"My opponents say I'm the Ross Perot of this campaign, possibly siphoning off enough votes to hand the election to Democrats," he says, settling onto a shady park bench for an interview. "I say, 'Wait a minute.... Ross Perot was an idle millionaire, with no public-policy experience who one day on a whim entered the presidential race.' That sounds like another candidate in this race ... not me," he says, referring to muscleman/millionaire Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Once a mere asterisk in the con- fused calculus of California's 135-candidate recall election, Mr. McClintock has gradually emerged as the strong, third-place vote getter in polls - rising (at 14-to-18 points) while the two leaders - fellow Republican Schwarzenegger (26 points) and Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (28 points) - tread water.

As the race enters its final stretch, McClintock's motives and acts are becoming paramount for two reasons. One, splitting the Republican vote, he could cost the party its best chance in a decade of high, statewide office. Two, his candidacy could drag down the success of the recall itself by forcing Republican partisans to reconsider driving Gov. Gray Davis from office because of fear that they could hand the office to a more liberal Democrat, Mr. Bustamante.

Ever since McClintock leaped from 4 percent voter support to double-digits about three weeks ago, the pressure has risen for him to stop offering himself as an alternative to Arnold Schwarzen-egger that could hand the election to Democrats. But as more voters get to know him, his poll numbers have continued to rise, while Schwarzenegger's are flat.

More conservative than Schwarzenegger on social issues - abortion, gay marriage, gun control - he is also far more experienced in fiscal matters, with California's sagging economy the No. 1 issue.

"He is by far the most studied and experienced of all the candidates in fiscal issues and how to implement public policy," says Jack Pitney, political scientist at Claremont McKenna College. "If the election were a college SAT test, McClintock would be the next governor hands down."

Even though he is widely acknowledged as the more knowledgeable, the more articulate, and the more detailed idea-man, 25-year government veteran McClintock does not have the millions of dollars of his chief Republican rival, nor his name recognition. Therein lies one of the chief ironies of the recall: Does he/should he/will he step aside to allow the neophyte challenger - and the Republican party - to gain its best chance of victory?

"He is a man who stands on his word and his principles while claiming time and again that he is in this to the last," says Doug Jeffe, a longtime California political consultant. "If he did get out, it would be totally uncharacteristic of him."

Now, with Schwarzenegger and Bustamante in a near dead heat, one leading Republican, Darrell Issa, the millionaire who bankrolled the signature gathering to oust Davis, has said that if Schwarzenegger or McClintock don't back off, Republicans should vote "no" on the recall. Polls show that if Arnold backed out, McClintock could not win.

But McClintock rejects a widespread analysis that conservative candidates have brought Republican fortunes to their low ebb. He feels the current crisis is the perfect storm for their historic comeback.

"Great parties are built on great principles," says McClintock, referring to the pillars of conservative policy: holding down taxes, cutting waste, standing up for the unborn, and resisting government approval of gay unions. "This is not a time to change our principles."

While such comments win kudos from some for adherence to principle, they strike others as bullheaded.

"McClintock's constant megaphoning of conservative social agendas is presenting a real problem for Republicans who really like him for his fiscal experience," says William Schneider, a pollster and political analyst. "They know Tom has the smarts to get this state out of economic problems and they worry about Arnold's lack of experience and specificity. But they don't think Tom can win and can't resist the fact that Arnold could."

As a child, McClintock campaigned for Barry Goldwater at age 8. In high school he organized classmates into a statewide GOP group. A political-science graduate of UCLA, he became a syndicated columnist railing about former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, lauding the character of John Wayne. Hired by a former L.A. police chief-cum-state senator (Ed Davis), McClintock began a 25-year career in Sacramento, marked by opposition to Republican governors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson over tax hikes and spending waste.

Despite his conservative stances, he was the top GOP vote-getter in the state, running for controller, in the 2002 election.

"I got very little from the state GOP and was outspent by my opponent by 5 to 1," says McClintock. "Despite all that, I lost by less than 1 percent of the vote."

A man who often quotes Reagan and Shakespeare, McClintock is considered a legislative loner with few legislative friends for his near two-decade pursuit of shrinking the state payroll.

In his favorite stump speech he tells why cutting is so important. As a child, he came home from school to find his mother crying over an unexpectedly high tax bill. The moment has lived in his imagination ever since that government takes too much from citizens and delivers too little.

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TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: California
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To: buwaya
And this is where politics becomes useless. This devotion that Reagan valued will not be won in elections, and regretting its lack in politicians is pointless.

Where are the tithes, the legacies, the contributions to expand, for instance, private religious schools ? Where are the vocations to the priesthood, to service, to ministry ? Reclaiming California will take sacrifice, personal sacrifice. No election will give you this.

How very true and well said!...at least except for the 'regretting its lack in politicians is pointless' part.

We still need true leaders in public life...nature abhors a vacuum, and if we don't have the best, we will have the worst.

It's not an either/or kind of thing. America's ultimate hope, you are correct, is not to be found in her politicians, but in her people. But nonetheless, our government was designed to be of the people. We need personal renewal always, but we need a renewal of reverence for God, respect for life, and love of liberty in our political leaders too. That's why we call them 'leaders'.

421 posted on 09/25/2003 10:44:47 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Call upon God to move on our behalf...)
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To: buwaya
I meant stubborn in defense of fundamental principles.
422 posted on 09/25/2003 10:45:45 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Call upon God to move on our behalf...)
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To: Tamsey
I'm just saying that it is possible to believe deeply in other aspects of the GOP platform even if someone is still "misguided" or "un-Christian" enough to be pro-choice.

Believing in other aspects of the GOP platform makes it all better if you believe that killing babies is perfectly OK!!? Is that all the mass slaughter of innocent children means to you - that it is simply something in a plank of the GOP party platform that is negotiable and potentially unnecessary!??

Opposing abortion is not simply a convenient position or a political football. It is the defining issue of our day. Either you're for killing children or you are against it. There is no middle ground.

423 posted on 09/25/2003 10:46:18 PM PDT by Spiff (Have you committed one random act of thoughtcrime today?)
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To: Tamsey
Just thought it would be worth the effort to try if he got into office.

It's always worth trying.

But lobbying is always so much more expensive in terms of time, energy and treasure than just getting someone elected that doesn't need to be lobbied to do the right thing in the first place. And it very rarely works.

424 posted on 09/25/2003 10:48:10 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Call upon God to move on our behalf...)
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To: Spiff
Believing in other aspects of the GOP platform makes it all better if you believe that killing babies is perfectly OK!!?

The why wasn't McClintock shouting that to the rafters? I have yet to hear any issues beyond financial being discussed in this campaign. Has McClintock signed a "no abortion in California" pledge yet and if not why not?

425 posted on 09/25/2003 10:49:31 PM PDT by Texasforever
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To: Texasforever
Get Arnold to sign one, and I'm sure we'll have no problem getting Tom to.
426 posted on 09/25/2003 10:50:27 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Call upon God to move on our behalf...)
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To: EternalVigilance
Get Arnold to sign one, and I'm sure we'll have no problem getting Tom to.

Why should "we have to get him to sign one"? Hell I thought he would have already done so. Maybe he is not so pro-life afterall.

427 posted on 09/25/2003 10:53:01 PM PDT by Texasforever
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To: EternalVigilance
Get Arnold to sign one, and I'm sure we'll have no problem getting Tom to.

Uhhhh, that was a trick question. And as usual you booted it. The governor's opinion on abortion is immaterial and carries only as much weight as any other citizen's does, as it is not a matter legislated at the state level.

428 posted on 09/25/2003 10:55:19 PM PDT by strela (I wonder if Tom McClintock will have to "make a reservation" to pay back that money?)
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To: Texasforever
There is no question of Tom's pro-life stance or record.

And there is no doubt of Arnold's pro-abortion-on-demand stance, either.
429 posted on 09/25/2003 10:55:25 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Call upon God to move on our behalf...)
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To: EternalVigilance
My point is that insisting on the "perfect man" in politics for the sake of reversing cultural decline is hopeless. Elect the best of a bad lot, and do not permit the worst to win. Do not let "the best" be the enemy of "good enough".

True cultural renewal is not to be found in politics.
430 posted on 09/25/2003 10:55:43 PM PDT by buwaya
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To: Spiff
You're missing my point.

Have a nice evening.
431 posted on 09/25/2003 10:55:46 PM PDT by Tamzee ("Big government sounds too much like sluggish socialism."......Arnold Schwarzenegger)
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To: strela
The governor's opinion on abortion is immaterial and carries only as much weight as any other citizen's does, as it is not a matter legislated at the state level.

That's simply not true.

432 posted on 09/25/2003 10:56:14 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Call upon God to move on our behalf...)
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To: EternalVigilance
Yes, I agree...


eeek.....did I just say that?!?!?

433 posted on 09/25/2003 10:57:27 PM PDT by Tamzee ("Big government sounds too much like sluggish socialism."......Arnold Schwarzenegger)
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To: buwaya
So, you're arguing that we need to clean up our act as a people, but that it doesn't really matter that we do so inside our government...

Sorry, I don't buy your 'logic'.
434 posted on 09/25/2003 10:57:33 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Call upon God to move on our behalf...)
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To: EternalVigilance
here is no question of Tom's pro-life stance or record.

Really? Then why is he not saying anything about it on the campaign trail? I would think this paragon of conservative "real republican" values would make that one of his major campaign issues.

435 posted on 09/25/2003 10:58:05 PM PDT by Texasforever
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To: Tamsey
Yes, I agree... eeek.....did I just say that?!?!?

Hope you don't get hives, or something. ;-)

436 posted on 09/25/2003 10:58:32 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Call upon God to move on our behalf...)
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To: Spiff
I am as anti-abortion as any.

If you want to stop abortions, politics is a hopeless avenue. By this point, in this culture, we are howling at the moon.

You must change the culture first. Quibbling over politicians positions is futile. If the people change, the politicians will follow.
437 posted on 09/25/2003 10:59:15 PM PDT by buwaya
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To: Texasforever
Really? Then why is he not saying anything about it on the campaign trail?

Guess you didn't listen to the closing statements in the debate.

438 posted on 09/25/2003 10:59:59 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Call upon God to move on our behalf...)
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To: EternalVigilance
Guess you didn't listen to the closing statements in the debate.

Oh did he pledge no abortions in California?

439 posted on 09/25/2003 11:01:02 PM PDT by Texasforever
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To: Texasforever
Oh, that's your game, huh..

Whatever. I don't want to play.
440 posted on 09/25/2003 11:02:27 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Call upon God to move on our behalf...)
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