Get REAL! 40% of California are NOT conservatives. This is the big error all you McSpoiler types buy into.
Anybody who thinks that the contribution of California conservatives will be worth >40% of the vote is simply delusional. Go ride on It's A Small World at Disneyland if you want to delude yourself into some happiness, but don't do it with moronic opinions like the idea that CA conservatives could push McSpoiler over the top. They're ALREADY voting for McSpoiler, for one, and for another, THERE ARE A MILLION MORE DEMOCRATS THAN REPUBLICANS IN CALIFORNIA. These are not moderate Democrats, and these are not conservative Republicans.
This is CALIFORNIA. If you think McSpoiler's 14% can become >40% if 'conservatives' vote for him, then your arithmetic skills are severely lacking.
There aren't that many conservatives in California, PERIOD.
Living in the most heavily taxed state in the union, with a 6-8 percent unemployment rate as a result, tends to make a candidate -the ONLY candidate- who's willing to make a no-tax pledge mighty attractive, even to moderates.
Get real yourself.
From statewide results of the 2002 election here
Tom McClintock 3,136,333 votes 45.1%: Party: Republican
and that's with a primary.
Now McClintock doesn't need 50%, or 40%, he just needs more than Bustamante.
Some folks fall into believing the propaganda from their own side.
;-)