[Diddle E. Squat]

McClintock was winning, but stumbled at the very end. Arnold was witty, but pretty much tap danced and treaded water. Cruz was smooth, and tried to play the polite victim, the poor little hard working Hispanic unfairly treated by the whites.

Given what each candidate needed to achieve in order to better position themselves, I hate to say it but I think Cruz was the most successful. He's all about niche marketing. Tom did good enough to further close his gap on Arnold, making it even harder for one or the other to drop out.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

McClintock was winning, but stumbled at the very end.

He had a great chance to pin the failure to adequatefully funding CA infrastructure on the true culprits (the Dims) when he framed it as a thirty year problem. Blown opportunity!

[Bonaparte]

"McClintock was winning, but stumbled at the very end."

In what way do you feel he stumbled?

" Arnold... pretty much tap danced and treaded water."

Aside from adopting McClintock's workers' comp plank, he pretty much spouted the same platitudes and cheerleading I've been hearing from him from the beginning. He really had no defense against Ariana's charge that he's been a flip flopper.

"Cruz was smooth, and tried to play the polite victim, the poor little hard working Hispanic unfairly treated by the whites."

He reminded me of a trainee on a used car lot, trying to impress his manager with his first customer. I've had innumerable salesmen lying in their teeth to me and they all came off just like Bustamante. It was hilarious, though, when he answered the question about the deficit by saying, "well, we spent too much." I had to laugh. "No kiddin, Busty? You mean you put us down in this hole by spending too much, not by saving too much? Gee, thanks for tellin' me!"

" Given what each candidate needed to achieve in order to better position themselves, I hate to say it but I think Cruz was the most successful."

You could be right about that. We'll have some idea who got traction when the next batch of polls come out... maybe.

"Tom did good enough to further close his gap on Arnold, making it even harder for one or the other to drop out."

I don't either is going to drop. Tom McClintock said he was in to the finish and I've never, ever known him to go back on a promise like that. And Arnold won't be dropping out no matter what. He's too ambitious and after all the trouble the RINO establishment has gone to, they'll never run him for dog catcher if he drops on them. Truthfully, unless Arnold truly surges in the polls, I think Bustamante is in. As has been pointed out before, the great war in California is between the left and right wings of the Republican party, not the Republican Party's desire to wrest the governorship from the democrats.