[goldstategop]

Those were NOT the issues in this campaign. He ran on clearly conservative themes: eliminating the car tax, reducing spending, and not increasing taxes, and making government accountable. The themes Ronald Reagan ran on back in 1966. They are still resonating across California. Cruz Bustamante ran as a liberal Democrat and won only the Bay Area. If you think the socialism the Democratic Party here is so infatuated with even has a future, think again. 61% of Californians want nothing to do with it.

[rightbanker]

I don't think you are thinking straight.

Of course, those social issues were not the issues. They couldn't have been. Arnie would have lost if he had run as a social conservative.

He ran on fiscally conservative issues.

I was saying he's going to make fiscal conservativism + social liberalism the mantra of the new California GOP. He's never going to come over to social conservatism. He's never going to have to.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say. Are you objecting to that analysis?

If so, on what basis?

[jpl]

Don't get me wrong, Arnold is light-years ahead of Davis, and Bush is of course light-years ahead of any of the losers in the Democratic field, and I desperately want to see Bush win. But Bush's disapproval rating is actually higher than his approval rating right now in California (though well within the margin of error).

I think it's going to be really interesting to see how high-profile a role Arnold ends up getting at the Republican convention next year.