[aristeides]

If Schwarzenegger + McClintock now together have enough votes to enable both of them to beat Bustamante if their votes are properly divided between them, that means that together they are going to get more than twice Bustamante's votes. If that's true, then there's no chance Bustamante can be elected no matter how the votes are divided between Schwarzenegger and McClintock. And that means conservatives are perfectly free to vote for McClintock, since there's no chance their not voting for Schwarzenegger will elect Bustamante.

McClintock may not be able to win, but the more votes he gets, the more influence he will have on future policies.

[JCEccles]

And that means conservatives are perfectly free to vote for McClintock, since there's no chance their not voting for Schwarzenegger will elect Bustamante.

Good point. I suspect some posters would support Bustamante over Tom in a one-on-one race, so deep is their loathing of Tom (for no rational reason so far as I can tell).

[Dog Gone]

McClintock may not be able to win, but the more votes he gets, the more influence he will have on future policies.

I think that's wishful thinking. The winner of an election doesn't adjust his policies based on the number of votes his opponent received.

If he did, the US would have ratified Kyoto by now.