[pubmom]

I love being an observer on these threads.

[fqued]

you wrote: "Proving yet again that California no longer has a Republican Party, just some guerrillas holding a few outposts"

Incorrect. The Republican party is largely, but not totally, composed of three overlapping but distinct groups of conservatives:

Jeffersonian Conservatives - those who follow Jefferson's dictum that "that government is best which governs least"

Economic Conservatives - those who believe in fiscal accountability, free-market type economics, etc.

Moral/Social Conservatives - those who believe that morals are important to have a stable society: family is important, no homosexual marriage, etc. etc.

Obviously, these overlap, but it is clear that a person can emphasize one or two, and even largely disagree with one while strenuously supporting one or two.

That is why there is such an argument over Arnold--he is an economic conservative, but not much of a moral/social conservative. He, is, however, within the Republican party because of that economic conservative stance.