I hope when all is said and done, I can generate 1% of the enthusiasm I saw on FreeRepublic tonight, for my "little" race to me just one Member of Congress from a small corner of the nation.
Congressman Billybob
Definitively yes. In my imagination, Bush-people might well be beating down Tom's door and promising Tom their firstborn children to get out.
Tom enhanced his own image greatly and advanced the conservative cause.
Before Arnie's Angels jump on me, let me state for the record that I regard myself as a little-l libertarian and really don't always agree with conservatives trying to dictate their moral values on everyone else. I wish I could solve every problem, but I think there is a practical limit.
Back to Tom, let's say, just for argument's sake, that Arnie's Angels are right and Tom can never win. Certainly Tom would be aware of that if so. So he could still figure out a way to pull out, leave the field to Arnold, and come in deux-ex-machina if and when Governor Arnold is installed and runs into policy trouble because he pandered and overcommitted during the campaign. Tom would then be ideally poised to take over in 2006 (if not earlier ;-).
(Sheesh, I should just shut up here and go advise Tom under the radar... ;-)