The Little Brown Reader

California recall: Does one man hold key?

It's pretty glaringly obvious that Tom McClintock would be the best candidate (out of the frontrunner pack) for California to elect in the upcoming recall -- and I think that an awful lot of leftward voters, if forced to do a gut check, would tend to agree, despite his socially conservative and immigrant-unfriendly stances. He appears to be principled and straightforward to a nearly unprecendented extent for a candidate from the TwoParty.

And it speaks volumes about the Republican Party that they have all-but betrayed him in favor of the mish-mash of unknowns and government-friendliness that is Arnold Schwarzenegger. The volumes that it speaks say, in short, "We are vote-and-power whores with no real political compass."

Barring some sort of funky development, the real race that I'm watching in this coming week is whether Tom McClintock will stand firm and refuse to bow out of the race, despite the super-heavyweight pressure that will be levied on him in the next few days. From what I've gathered about him, he's not going anywhere, no matter who pressures him. I hope that's the case.

On the other hand, if the compromisers in the state and national GOP are successful in their efforts to crush his will -- well, at least there won't be any more room for mystery about what that party stands for.

For the record, it's because of that abhorrent, immoral party which Senator McClintock chooses to align with, and not because of the laundry list of issues I disagree with him on, that he won't be getting my vote. The only way that would change is if Tom wised up and quit the foul party that is trying to befoul him. Which is to say, if he promised to switch to be an independent if elected (or just switched now), I'd vote for him. I don't think he's quite zany and frisky enough to do something like that, but I do think that if he did, there are a lot of California voters who would decide to deal with his gay-unfriendly, immigrant-unfriendly, abortion-unfriendly views, in order to vote for someone who seems to be truly honest and committed to his principles -- plus a true fiscal conservative with the knowledge and wherewithal to go to town on the budget.

He has gone from low single-digits to around twenty percent in the polls -- essentially, his poll numbers go up every time he's in a televised debate. And I get the same reaction from people whether talking to my Green friends, my Democrat friends, or my independent friends -- they all are impressed by Tom because he seems like a uniquely honest straight shooter (and they all disagree with him on pretty much the same things I do -- his social conservative views).

It's not often that I'm impressed by a candidate from one of the Bipartisan parties, but this zany recall election has brought one to light.

One bright spot, regardless of the election results, is the sliver of evidence that McClintock's ever-rising numbers provide for the premise that (at least some) voters are more interested in a principled politician they can trust than that politician's specific policy stances. At least that's what I see. Tom's numbers aren't all coming from hardcore conservative Republicans, that's for sure. And he has something like a 60% favorability rating, in a state that's only 35% Republican. That right there is pretty freakin' nutty.

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.

"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."

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