[GWB00]

California can not necessarily be seen as taking a step in the "right" direction

I disagree. Although, I wanted to see a conservative like McClintock win, I will take Arnold over Gray Davis any day (The repeal of the driver's license to illegal immigrants is worth the election alone).I think we need to take a page out of the Democrat play book (even though it is old and worn out), and look at this as an incremental step. If Arnold does well in California, we might see more of a willingness to accept a McClintock in the future.

[rightbanker]

I think you got that backwards. I think Arnold is more likely to bring the Republican party in his more socially liberal direction, then the Republican party is likely to bring California in a socially conservative direction.

I think this election spells the end of social conservatism both in the California Republican Party.

If Arnie is successful, he is likely to be governor for the next seven years. When he runs for re-election, he will need to hold onto the defecting dems from union households and the indies. That will keep him towing a fiscally conservative but socially liberal line.

Having once assembled a winning coalition on that basis, I don't see any prospects of the party trying to win the old-fashioned hard right way.

I think ultimately, true blue conservatives may come to rue this day, when the RINO's took over the Republican party and apparatus.