[Sabertooth]

That 18% only has value if you’re willing to bring it to the bargaining table.

If you want to go it alone, 18% is exactly as useful as 0%.

Tell me, what is McClintock going to do with his 18%?

Tell me, what are future Republican candidates statewide going to do without it?

Those McClintock votes will be on the table in election after election, and the GOP will have to accept that they can't be taken for granted. That's the bigger picture.

[dead]

Of course the Republican Party wants those votes. I'm talking about McClintock's future, or lack thereof.

He did the conservative cause in California considerable harm by his stubbornness. He has emboldened the moderate forces in the party, merely to satiate his own ego.

If he had stepped aside when the GOP believed they desperately needed his constituency, he would have been perceived as a king maker with considerable clout. From there, he could have run a campaign with the entire GOP behind him in the future.

Instead, he acted bullheaded. His political career is dead in the water, and that is not good for conservatives. It was a stupid stupid play on his part.