As last week's all-night lockdown in the state Senate ended without a budget, Sen. Tom McClintock thanked fellow conservatives on his daily blog for their calls and e-mails and proclaimed, "You've made a difference." By many accounts, so has the rock-ribbed Thousand Oaks Republican who during the current stalemate has reached out to the party faithful via the blogosphere and urged them to implore the Senate's 15 Republicans to hold firm. Railing against what he sees as profligate spending by Democrats is nothing new for McClintock, who during his 21 years in the Legislature has often been dismissed by critics...