Right on the money.
I've noticed an amazing lack of introspection on this site. If Arnold loses it simply can't be his fault - it must be McClintock's. When GHW Bush lost it was all due to Perot.
It's like listening to a few Penn State fans claim the refs cost us yesterday's game. The refs made one bad call, while our coaches made numerous foolish calls throughout the game. Anyone who can be honest with themselves can see that, but I suppose it's easier to shut your eyes real tight and pretend the world is against you.
Gee, guess what guys? He is, that's why 50% on this board (very conservative) are supporting him. That's also why a large number of California's GOP conservative leadership are supporting him.
Of course I rely on the actual polls and endorsements to make this statement. Maybe I should rely on nothing like you two and just make stuff up.
What you just proved is when Republican don't unite behind one canidate they LOSE.
Schwarzenegger is betting that Nixon's famous dictum will not hold true this time around. If he's right, his election will likely evidence a sea change in Republican politics not just at the state level, but nationally. That is what is at stake here.
The social liberals of the Republican Party are gambling that they can recast the Party fundamentally and exclusively in their image by marginalizing and effectively exiling the social conservatives. That explains the Log Cabin/Andrew Sullivan thrall over Arnold Schwarzenegger's candidacy. Feminist Republicans are also anxious to see this done, to ensure the pro-death agenda is made secure not merely at the Democrat level, but at the Republican level as well. They hope to see in an Arnold victory the total collapse of social conservatism as a viable force in the Republican Party beginning in Sacramento but rippling rapidly outward across the entire nation.
Still, this is largely an attempted coup by the big money liberal Republican party elites--not grass roots conservatives. The big money social liberal elites could never hope to bring it off in a normal year in California. But in the bizarre political environment of a recall election--where a mere plurality is all that is needed to bring off a coup-- they see their golden opportunity. They will seek to consolidate their gains, co-opt sufficient pink vote and pro-abort vote from the mushy middle to give them momentum and strength to continue moving left to what has long been their promised land.
Karl Rove is watching this intently. He will have no compunction against moving hard left and abandoning social conservatives if, in his mind, it will yield one marginal vote more.
This recall election IS a defining moment for the Republican Party.