Posted on 09/25/2003 2:54:50 PM PDT by ambrose
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| from the September 26, 2003 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0926/p01s03-uspo.html
California recall: Does one man hold key?Tom McClintock, top GOP conservative, could tilt race for or against Arnold Schwarzenegger.By Daniel B. Wood | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BURBANK, CALIF. - Republican candidate Tom McClintock laughs from deep in the belly when asked if he will be the "spoiler" in the great populist revolution/experiment/circus of California's gubernatorial recall election.
"My opponents say I'm the Ross Perot of this campaign, possibly siphoning off enough votes to hand the election to Democrats," he says, settling onto a shady park bench for an interview. "I say, 'Wait a minute.... Ross Perot was an idle millionaire, with no public-policy experience who one day on a whim entered the presidential race.' That sounds like another candidate in this race ... not me," he says, referring to muscleman/millionaire Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Once a mere asterisk in the con- fused calculus of California's 135-candidate recall election, Mr. McClintock has gradually emerged as the strong, third-place vote getter in polls - rising (at 14-to-18 points) while the two leaders - fellow Republican Schwarzenegger (26 points) and Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (28 points) - tread water.
As the race enters its final stretch, McClintock's motives and acts are becoming paramount for two reasons. One, splitting the Republican vote, he could cost the party its best chance in a decade of high, statewide office. Two, his candidacy could drag down the success of the recall itself by forcing Republican partisans to reconsider driving Gov. Gray Davis from office because of fear that they could hand the office to a more liberal Democrat, Mr. Bustamante.
Ever since McClintock leaped from 4 percent voter support to double-digits about three weeks ago, the pressure has risen for him to stop offering himself as an alternative to Arnold Schwarzen-egger that could hand the election to Democrats. But as more voters get to know him, his poll numbers have continued to rise, while Schwarzenegger's are flat.
More conservative than Schwarzenegger on social issues - abortion, gay marriage, gun control - he is also far more experienced in fiscal matters, with California's sagging economy the No. 1 issue.
"He is by far the most studied and experienced of all the candidates in fiscal issues and how to implement public policy," says Jack Pitney, political scientist at Claremont McKenna College. "If the election were a college SAT test, McClintock would be the next governor hands down."
Even though he is widely acknowledged as the more knowledgeable, the more articulate, and the more detailed idea-man, 25-year government veteran McClintock does not have the millions of dollars of his chief Republican rival, nor his name recognition. Therein lies one of the chief ironies of the recall: Does he/should he/will he step aside to allow the neophyte challenger - and the Republican party - to gain its best chance of victory?
"He is a man who stands on his word and his principles while claiming time and again that he is in this to the last," says Doug Jeffe, a longtime California political consultant. "If he did get out, it would be totally uncharacteristic of him."
Now, with Schwarzenegger and Bustamante in a near dead heat, one leading Republican, Darrell Issa, the millionaire who bankrolled the signature gathering to oust Davis, has said that if Schwarzenegger or McClintock don't back off, Republicans should vote "no" on the recall. Polls show that if Arnold backed out, McClintock could not win.
But McClintock rejects a widespread analysis that conservative candidates have brought Republican fortunes to their low ebb. He feels the current crisis is the perfect storm for their historic comeback.
"Great parties are built on great principles," says McClintock, referring to the pillars of conservative policy: holding down taxes, cutting waste, standing up for the unborn, and resisting government approval of gay unions. "This is not a time to change our principles."
While such comments win kudos from some for adherence to principle, they strike others as bullheaded.
"McClintock's constant megaphoning of conservative social agendas is presenting a real problem for Republicans who really like him for his fiscal experience," says William Schneider, a pollster and political analyst. "They know Tom has the smarts to get this state out of economic problems and they worry about Arnold's lack of experience and specificity. But they don't think Tom can win and can't resist the fact that Arnold could."
As a child, McClintock campaigned for Barry Goldwater at age 8. In high school he organized classmates into a statewide GOP group. A political-science graduate of UCLA, he became a syndicated columnist railing about former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, lauding the character of John Wayne. Hired by a former L.A. police chief-cum-state senator (Ed Davis), McClintock began a 25-year career in Sacramento, marked by opposition to Republican governors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson over tax hikes and spending waste.
Despite his conservative stances, he was the top GOP vote-getter in the state, running for controller, in the 2002 election.
"I got very little from the state GOP and was outspent by my opponent by 5 to 1," says McClintock. "Despite all that, I lost by less than 1 percent of the vote."
A man who often quotes Reagan and Shakespeare, McClintock is considered a legislative loner with few legislative friends for his near two-decade pursuit of shrinking the state payroll.
In his favorite stump speech he tells why cutting is so important. As a child, he came home from school to find his mother crying over an unexpectedly high tax bill. The moment has lived in his imagination ever since that government takes too much from citizens and delivers too little.
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www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2003 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
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Sadly, a lot of football teams, etc., lose by 1 point. It's still a loss. What will you say October 8 when a jubilant and even more empowered Davis, or Bustamante wins?
I like Tom McClintock very much. He is a fine looking intelligent honorable man who has served our State and his constituents superbly. I pray for him as he is facing such cry for him to drop out of the race. It is not a comfortable situation for a man of intergrity.
Arnold today on the Sean Hannity Town Hall Meeting said he will offer his hand in friendship and a place for Tom on his team.
"As a child, he came home from school to find his mother crying over an unexpectedly high tax bill. The moment has lived in his imagination ever since that government takes too much from citizens and delivers too little."
A great ad can be made from his vivid imagery. I remember my Dad spending hours, days, in high tension in completing our families tax returns, as he was self-employed with all of the boxes of receipts, etc. I remember a few years driving with him to the local Post Office to drop off the tax shakedown forms close to the midnight hour.
What relief when it was over, we got our Dad back, but with much less of his hard earned income to share with his large family.
Name me one conservative supporter who is willing to "engage in the wholesale abandonment of conservative principles" and support your claim.
I don't believe it.
The conservative Arnold supporters I have heard from are willing to compromise when it comes to social issues, in order to get a fiscal conservative elected.
That is smart politics.
Those who are willing to abandon the chance of getting Dems out of the Gov mansion in order to vote for a loser, are of absolutely no use to anyone.
You shouldn't speak for me until you understand my perspective. I would say Yes. See this isn't a game, Conservatism trumps Liberalism every time. But as you are demonstrating, Republicanism and Conservatism are mutually exclusive. It actually hurts Conservatism to have it coupled with Republicanism when it uses failed Moderate economic policy.
I say Yes because by the very map we are talking about, history would show that Bush could have won with a lousy Governor like Indiana's D-OBannon. (now deceased) You have to honestly ask yourselves, long term, what is best for Conservatism rather than Republicanism because as much as I did fight the prevailing wisdom during my recall battles of getting it qualified, they might have been right, having a Demo sink with my ship would be better than having a recall because of the sinking ship, then have a dumb moderate blow holes in the hull and get the entire blame.
Not every politician is a Reagan; Reagans can't be ordered by catalog. You have to decide on those that present themselves, however defective.
I agree, I gave (R)nold a chance to prove that he was more than Prop49, and I have stamped a big "Reject" on his forehead. That is my decision.
You are cordially invited to attend a press conference tomorrow, September 26th, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and a very special guest for an important announcement.
The event will be at the Southern California Volunteer Headquarters, located in Santa Monica. Please arrive at 9:00am . We will have coffee and donuts. Arnold is eager to have some of his strong supporters here to participate in this special announcement.
Issa endorsement most likely. Does anybody know where McClintock is going to be tomorrow morning?
The Clintons are seriously stumping for the DNC in California. Do you think the Clintons are happy to see McClintock staying in the race and splitting the GOP vote, yes or no?
No. They are unhappy because they want this to be (R)nold vs all of them.
They can pulverize your guy. Look what Arriana was able to reduce him to, and she is nobody. Clinton would proceed if it didn't risk getting a rock ribbed Conservative elected who could fix the problems. I think they might just go ahead and smash him in their hydralic press of stories about his stupid past anyways, thinking Tom can't make up the difference, but the Clintons are uneasy about releasing the hounds. That should please you.
Telling Issa that he had his fingers crossed when he made that promise to him.
I should have been more clear. Republicanism isn't a philosophy at all, actually it SHOULDN'T be a philosophy because we are talking about a political party. What you have seen here is the manifestation of Group Think becoming its own philosphy; How can we best serve the letter 'R'.
Now that is a difficult thing for me to admit you must understand, because up until I got behind Tom's campaign, I was about as obnoxious a Republican hack as you wanna get.
different Freepers come down on different sides on the Tom/Arnold issue, because some will only vote for a "true" conservative, while others will vote for the Republican because that will help advance conservative views at least incrementally.
My turn to say BIG DIFFERENCE! I am not a purist. This campaign is extrodiarily complex. I support Tom because I agree with him 100% to be sure, but there is alot more to it than that. Something no (R)nold Groupie wants to admit, but taking over this debt is impossible for his novice self. If it was 2006 and there was no debt, I doubt I would even fight for Tom, because whoever was the Gov really didn't MATTER all that much.
Another reason there is no comparison is that (R)nold does not help the Conservative cause even incrementally. His failure, his complete implosion when the Legislature stops floating the debt illegally through loans and makes him come up with the money (in taxes) it will do more to destroy this state than Pete Wilson's failure in 91 ever did. Aside from that, you also have his social plank redefining the Republican Party. Every Convention they'll run to the movie star to get his reaction to "Bush's far right social views" and the Conservative cause is further marginalized by the media through the Great Compromiser.
I can go on all night, there is NO gain by an (R)nold victory, even incrementally. The sooner people comprehend that difficult reality (Rnold was one of my favorite actors too) the sooner they will begin to understand the crisis we are in.
"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it."
So according to this verse one should vote for the loser instead of the candidate "many" vote for...so one won't go to Hell. LOL
I hear the same things, and its good to punk out the Groupies with that, it breaks their heart. But hold the line friend, we are not out of this yet.
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