First, we must accept the fact that the Schwarzenegger camp and the candidate himself feel they are several cards short of a royal flush. This is extremely tempting to them. They thirst and hunger for a dropout of their main opponent, to propel them within reach of the goal. The dropout of Conservative Senator Tom McClintock. As anyone knows in sales and bargaining anywhere worldwide, the bargaining party that stands to gain the most should be willing to be flexible, albeit for a price, to secure it's wishes. That party in this case is Mr. Schwarzenegger and his supporters and the traditional Republican Party Elite. On the other hand, Tom McClintock can look at the numbers and come to the conclusion that more than likely the Democrats will retain power. But he stands in the gap for millions of conservative voters not only in California, but nationwide, who do NOT want their voices to be lost if a RINO were to take charge. Accordingly, by the end of the weekend with a little over one week left in the game, I call upon the Senator to enter discussions with Mr. Schwarzenegger to 'seal the deal.' Here is the possible deal, other approximations or ideas could be entertained, but it is a starting template.
Arrangement #1: Sen. Tom McClintock will withdraw from the gubernatorial re-call race and issue a clear endorsement of Arnold Schwarzenegger and will insist that all of his supporters turn out in droves on 7 October or cast absentee ballots for Arnold Schwarzenegger. By most polls (with the minority liberal candidate Bustamante predictably 'over polling' at the moment), it is within the realm of possibility that as a Republican, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be elected.
If we are to take Mr. Schwarzenegger at his word, he has recently and graciously extended somewhat of an olive branch to Mr. McClintock, in the spirit and words of "let's work together. Let's have a partnership." In reciprocating, McClintock kept most of his wrath in public forum towards the liberal Democratic toady, while staying on message and clear-cut about his own conservative and unshakeable philosophies. Bravo.
This is a good start and a basis to encourage this kind of Arnold-Tom discussion in the next few strategic days.
Arrangement #2: Mr. Schwarzenegger will graciously, and very publicly accept this key strategic concession and endorsement. His supporters will cease attacks upon Mr. McClintock and Mr. McClintock's supporters will cease attacks upon Mr. Schwarzenegger. All parties will turn out in vigor to vote on Election Day.
Agreement #3: In a equally major concession to Tom McClintock and his formidable conservative base, [which deserve a voice and influence], which shall derive assurances and benefits; to-wit, if elected as Governor by recall on October 7th, Governor-elect Schwarzenegger shall cede to Senator McClintock the selection and nominating rights of the following gubernatorial appointed positions, and shall not veto the names of those Californians brought forth by Mr. McClintock:
--Public Employee Retirement System Director,
--State Personnel Board Commission,
--State Board of Education,
--(abolish) Racial Profiling Panel of the Outreach and Diversity Task Force,
--Secretary Health and Human Services Agency,
--Chairman, Statewide Health and Planning Agency
--Director of the Department of Health Services
--Heads of the Maternal and Child Health, the Office of Family Planning, and the Office of Women's Health
Agreement #4:Provided Mr. McClintock were to enter the Republican primary for United States Senator from the State of California in the next general election, Mr. Schwarzenegger would offer an early and irretrievable endorsement of him.
The stakes are high. A 'win-win', in order to secure the state against the Democrats at the same time adding IRON CLAD assurance to conservatives that they will be a strong force and factor in any Republican Administration, can be achieved. The template can vary. Both parties have to start from somewhere.
There are risks and giving involved in this. For Tom, he loses the prospect of becoming Governor. But wait. He may well be United States Senator in a short period from now, in addition to wielding good force in the selection of key personnel. For Arnold, he faces the prospect of losing Maria (half joke, half serious here), but he comes into striking range of becoming Governor. Without a concession on his part, this will not become a reality.
I suggest that if conservatives cannot be granted concessions as I have suggested, there is no use in voting for Schwarzenegger, and they should go to the polls in droves to support Tom McClintock, to send a strong message to the polls and media that a potent, and huge conservative voting base in California remains intact.
Now it's time to sit down, loosen the ties, have a cigar or two, and start horse-trading.
What a putrid PANT-LOAD!!! This is revenge and you can't play Monte Hall with vicious, vengeful people whose only dream is to crush consistent conservatism!
The problem in CA is a fiscal & infrastucture crisis that is triggering a huge threat to the business climate. Just because someone running for Governor holds to some social issues means nothing as he'll be too busy solving the fiscal issues in 3 years, alone! Tom doesn't need to waste time with a dang audit as he already knows where the fiscal waste is and how to solve it. It doesn't take starpower to deal with that. The Governor has a line item veto pen!
The polls mean less in this compacted election as no one really understands how to correctly pose the questions and the organizations polling all have axes to grind, so they're all push polls anyway. Some huge suprises are in order that would make deal making look stupid in hind-sight!
As Bruce Hershenson's commercial says, if everybody that likes Tom's promise but says "he can't win" would stop pretending to be some astute political genius and vote for Tom, HE WOULD WIN IN A LANDSLIDE!!!