[Chancellor Palpatine]

You realize that if these poll numbers bear out (and I think they will), this portends really badly for the McClintock wing of the party - because it represents all those previously uncommitteds coming home to roost in the moderate wing of the GOP.

At this point, the GOP now is coming to realize that it can win without the hystericals, and you're going to find yourselves completely marginalized when the whole exercise was unnecessary.

[BibChr]

I hope you're right in some ways, and FEAR you're right in ways I don't like in the least.

Ideologically, I AM in "the McClintock wing of the party." Without hint of apology.

And I think (1) he's been the worst thing to happen to us in years, and (2) his scorched earth enablers are shooting themselves and their whole purported cause in the foot, or somewhat higher.

They are saying, without words, "We can't work with anybody, we can't work as a team, if we can't have ONE HUNDRED PER CENT of our way, we'll burn the house down!"

That isn't how anything gets DONE. And isn't that our aim? To get something DONE?

Sad, sad sad.

Dan

[hchutch]

The fact is, there are a growing number of people who cannot abide the Left at all. They're finally taking their stand, and doing so on their terms.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

because it represents all those previously uncommitteds coming home to roost in the moderate wing of the GOP

And how on earth, in a west coast state, could anyone have ever expected they'd go anywhere else? These are Independents and the "unsure" Democrats (near former Democrats). And according to the McClintock supporters, they are supposed to jump from the middle to one extreme end of the spectrum all at once? This is where the McClintock faction shows their great naivete -- they have no sense whatsoever of human psychology. People simply do not act that way.

People moving along the spectrum, voting differently than they have in the past, move slowly and cautiously...and when they begin that movement they continue to hold on to much of their distaste for the side they are moving toward. You need to make them feel comfortable -- and you need to not burn them (i.e. if Arnold is elected in the middle on social issues, he's going to have to govern from the middle on social issues). Then, slowly, over time they gain some acceptance of your doctrine and philosophy. Some of them will even make the long traverse over to the hard conservative side, but most will remain comfortably in the middle, middle-right. But they will not any longer be Democrat voters, and if they still consider themselves Independents, they will be real ticket-splitters or even predominately Republican Independents -- instead of solid Democrat-voting Independents, as most Independents in California have been.

This is a major gain, which would not ever have been possible with a doctrinaire conservative like McClintock as the Republican leader.

[Sabertooth]

You realize that if these poll numbers bear out (and I think they will), this portends really badly for the McClintock wing of the party - because it represents all those previously uncommitteds coming home to roost in the moderate wing of the GOP.

Ya think?

Let's look at those numbers again...

Schwarzenegger 40%
Bustamante 25%
McClintock 18%

If those numbers bear out (and you think they will), Schwarzenegger wins by a plurality of 40%.

How often do you think the GOP can win statewide in California with 40% of the vote?

At this point, the GOP now is coming to realize that it can win without the hystericals, and you're going to find yourselves completely marginalized when the whole exercise was unnecessary.

I think many in the GOP are better at math than that.