McClintock: 'In the race to the finish line'

CNN ^ | August 26, 2003 | CNN

[Recourse]

WASHINGTON (CNN) --With one recent poll showing actor Arnold Schwarzenegger falling behind Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante in California's gubernatorial recall race, some top Republicans are urging other GOP candidates to drop out of the race.

Businessman Bill Simon, the GOP nominee against Gov. Gray Davis last year, dropped out over the weekend. But Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock says he's in the race for good. McClintock, in Sacramento, California, spoke with CNN's Judy Woodruff on Tuesday. The following is an edited transcript.

[risk]

OK you're right about Bustamante's inability to learn from McClintock's campaign points. But I don't think McClintock's presence in the race is automatically going to get us Bustamante. I just don't buy that. I think we're still in a very early phase of the campaign, and the only think I believe will hurt either Republican candidate is for them both to attack each other in any way but on the issues.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Um. . . because he lost a statewide election not a year ago.

Why did he lose?

[w_over_w]

Why are the out-of-state people sometimes the most obnoxious ones?

The view is always better from the "cheap seats".

[cyncooper]

What are the chances this guy is lying? If he's lying, why should I believe him?

Indeed. I've been thinking McClintock was this ethical Reaganesque character based on certain freeper representations, but he certainly does not appear to be. First, the breaking of the 11th commandment, and second, I was stunned to see this:

MCCLINTOCK: But, Judy, to answer you seriously, I've gone, in the last three weeks, from an asterisk in the polls to double-digits.

Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger, with unprecedented media coverage, has been absolutely dead in the water. He is consistently polled in the low to mid 20s. So the momentum is clearly on my side. We have still got 42 days, six full weeks, until the election. And the momentum is all in my direction right now.

End

There is no "consistant" about it, as he deceptively states. And this evidently is what he presented on a day when two different polls' numbers indicate that the LA Times poll he is clearly relying on here show vastly different numbers.

Not the impressive paragon of honest intregrity I had been led to believe.

[risk]

Yeah, sure. Governor Cruz Bustamante will be very inspired.

I'm still counting on his defeat. Can't we have this exact same discussion a month from now and have it be more interesting and useful?

[Hildy]

Please explain that to me. That makes no sense. Of course they'll hurt each other. How come some people here just refuse to see things the way they really are. This isn't JUST SOME ELECTION. This is the future of the largest state in the US. I'm not willing to turn it over to someone even MORE LEFT of Davis. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. How can any of you even chance that happening. There must be one Republican candidate who can appeal to Democrats. Arnold is the one. Let it be.

[BunnySlippers]

He is well known and well respected on both sides for his integrity. He doesn't need to lie. He's also known for answer a simple yes or no to difficult questions. He doesn't "waffle".

What will you say if he does drop out? Sometimes these declarative statements are meaningless?

[Tempest]

Cruz Bustamante will make an excellent governor.

Thanks McNader!

[cyncooper]

He is well known and well respected on both sides for his integrity.

Really? He appears deceptive and irrational to me.

And here I had a high opinion of his much vaunted integrity and with my first exposure to an interview I am treated to dishonesty. What a disappointment.

[Rabid Dog]

I don't think he is going to drop out. He learned a lesson along those lines early in his career.

[Torie]

Flagging the Mod is the functional equivalent of hitting the abuse button. I have done that about 5 times in 5 years (where say a thread which has mostly posts that use the word "faggot" in them, without any other substantive content, or cruelly attacks someone else's religion), except for ministerial matters, where a thread is a duplicate, or has a phony headline that needs to be corrected, or whatever.

The best policy IMO is to respond to vicious personal attacks with icy silence, or if not so vicious but still infra dig, maybe with humor, once in awhile. Trust me; it works.

[risk]

What if the popularity figures for Schwarzenegger and McClintock shift dramatically in the next three weeks, not because of a problem with Schwarzenegger's platform, but because more Californians get behind McClintock's simpler campaign strategy? Don't you think Schwarzenegger would have the courage to concede to McClintock and see his supporters get behind McClintock? It could go either way at this point, couldn't it?

[Cathryn Crawford]

And here I had a high opinion of his much vaunted integrity and with my first exposure to an interview I am treated to dishonesty. What a disappointment.

Did you really have a good opinion of him, or are you using sarcasm?

[Cathryn Crawford]

Thank you for your opinion. :-)

[LdSentinal]

Arnold has only himself to blame for McClintock's standings in the poll. However, fear not to all the Arnold supporters out there. There's a chance McClintock could be a Ross Perot, but there's also an equal chance he could be tne next Peg Luksik. She ran for governor a pro-life, conservative platform in Pennsylvania in both the 1994 and 1998 elections. She got 13% of the vote in 1994, but Tom Ridge still won by 6%; In 1998, she got 10.5% of the overall vote and Ridge won by 27%. Then again, California is more Democratic than Pennsylvania.

Still, Arnold shouldn't be so concerned about McClintock; he should be more scared of Ueberroth at the moment.

[Those_Crazy_Liberals]

"Why did he lose?"

Other than Simon, he was one of the most inept candidates on the ballot last year.

[Cathryn Crawford]

He doesn't appear to be inept. What are your examples of his ineptness?

[Rabid Dog]

I'm not sure why you think he is deceptive or irrational - is he making statements or setting policies in your state that don't make sense? He sure doesn't do that in CA.

[Torie]

MClintock has no appeal to moderates and independents

Except this moderate, for whom McClintock has boatloads of appeal. He is simply the right man, in the right place, at the right time, as to the issues that matter at present to Californians who are really, really, worried, about the impending fiscal deluge.

[BunnySlippers]

Hi Cyn! I find it strange that Art Torres and Jerry Brown are boosting McClintock (why?) ... and McClintock is taking jabs at Arnold when he should be running against Bustamante!!!