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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Wow, how hard is that to figure out, Tex?
Arnold supports abortion on demand, and Tom opposes it.
I see. So it is acceptable for your candidate to avoid the issue as long as he "says" it is important to him. What the hell good is that? I think McClintock is the man of principled clay feet.
But not enough to make it a campaign issue. What was that about hypocrite again?
One more time: he talked about the abortion issue in his closing remarks in the debate...so your comment is untrue.
Did your boy talk about the fact he favors killing babies? Or is he a hypocrite too?
No one around here has put AS forward as a combination of St. Augustine and Ronald Reagan. According to the McClintock supporters, the only thing preventing him from walking on water is the dry spell in California. If you are going to make a man a saint he should WALK HIS TALK.
Water costs money. Tom ain't got any. You do the math.
Once again you set up a strawman.
I've certainly never made Tom McClintock out as a saint. He's simply a thousand times better than Arnold.
Well so far on the abortion issue neither one is going to do anything about it so your "thousand times better" comment is moot.
There are no tanks in Baghdad.
Untrue. The Governor will impact the abortion debate in many ways, both legislatively, administratively, and politically. To say 'neither one is going to do anything about it' is ridiculous on its face.
If Tom wins, incremental gains will be made against abortion, and the pro-life movement will be strengthened nationally.
If Arnold wins, the abortion industry will reap the deadly benefits of that. You know, Warren Buffett's pet; Planned Barrenhood.
And of course, Arnold is wrong on a long list of other issues as well, as you well know.
He is also surrounding himself with politicos and advisors who are hostile to conservatives and conservative ideas.
A disaster in the making, if you care about addressing the root causes of California's crisis.
Since Tom will not forthrightly state his intentions while campaigning what makes you think he is going to even mention it once elected. Where are his floor speeches concerning abortion? What legislation has he authored concerning abortion? Is he one of those "I am personally against abortion..but" politicians?
Well, I guess I'll just have to be pragmatic and support the closest thing to what 'Texasforever' considers to be a perfect conservative, Tom McClintock.
Sweet dreams.
Then you have done nothing for your cause. You have proven that, even you, are willing to vote for rhetoric over substance. I would be very careful about your liberal use of "hypocrite" when castigating other conservatives over their choice of political candidates.
So Reagan was a hypocrit? I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Damn you are easy.
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