Dan Walters: Schwarzenegger holds his own, so race remains a tossup

Sacramento Bee ^ | September 25, 2003 | Dan Walters

[Dog Gone]

Despite the hoopla that surrounds political debates, it's rare that one actually has a material impact on an election.

Wednesday night's debate among five contenders for the California governorship in the historic drive to unseat Gov. Gray Davis may be one of those exceptions.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Its done - there will be no "Terminator 4" - not with Schwarzenegger in it. He will be too busy doing the job of Governor of Kollyvornia.

Its a great day, and I smell lots of economic victory in the air.

[Dog Gone]

How can that be? The readers at the San Francisco Chronicle are voting Peter Camejo as the winner of the debate.

[Kevin Curry]

I smell lots of economic victory in the air.

The Northridge porn industry ought to do particulalrly well under Arnold Mapplethorpe Schwarezenhefner.

[Snerfling]

McC could easily be seen as the "winner" in classic debate terms.

Every Arnie supporter at FR would probably love to vote for McC, myself included. Problem is, while FR personality types are typically INTJs, the rest of the electorate are not. Our appreciation of logic, knowledge and history are not shared by our fellow citizens.

Listening to the type of future Busta, Camejo and Huff had in store for us, even the most hard-core McC supporters might concede that it is perhaps advisable to vote for who can win, as opposed to who we would like to win.

The alternative is possitively frightening. Please Tom, join AS's campaign as his budget Czar.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Camejo had one interesting moment, when he said the Republicans just want to cut and cut, while the Democrats get money and put it who knows where.

[kjam22]

If I lived in that state there is no doubt that I'd vote for McC. He may not win... but he'd get my vote. I'm not sure that bottom line, Arnold is much better than the dims.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

That schtick of yours is getting tiresome.

[Walkin Man]

If Schwarzenkennedy gets elected, I'll be laughing as he takes the so-called republican party of California on a far left trip into the dustbin of history.

[Dog Gone]

Camejo was projecting himself as more moderate than he is during most of the debate.

Then he erased all that in his closing statement where he reminded everyone that he would push for Kyoto, ICC, and a whole laundry list of other commie objectives.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I'm going to point out to all that in consideration of last nights performance McClintock reminds me of a cross between Jimmy Carter and Al Gore (albeit on a different ideological wavelength) - a detail guy who believes that he will turn into a government fairy who can wave a magic wand and make every aspect of his program happen. Of course, in his fantasy, the government fairy never has to convince an indifferent or hostile legislature and citizenry that such actions are needed, he never has to worry about the unexpected, there never needs to be contingency planning for the possibility that a plan may not work as intended, nor does the government fairy ever have to consider that he is governor over all citizens and not just the ones who voted for him.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I have to agree. Arnold didn't blow it. He wins.

[habs4ever]

You got it! I wish Frepers would realize that they are electing a leader, and not some uber bureaucrat that ca talk a good game, but has no ability to implement his ideas for a variety of reasons.I can't figure out what makes some say Tom is the better guy, when clearly, he's not a leader, and memorizing his crib sheet does a good Governor make.

[Walkin Man]

Schwarzenkennedy reminds me of a puppet on a string with his demoRat \ RINO handlers calling all the shots.

An empty-headed, blank slate with muscles that his demoRat handlers fill with fanciful socialist nostrums. His worshipful followers are nothing but a bunch of star-struck rubes, easy marks for Warren Buffet and company.

I will laugh if Schwarzenkennedy's cult of personality wins the recall election.

It will be lots of fun to see his cult followers try to defend every far-left, anti-conservative socialist policy his administration will churn out.

[Saundra Duffy]

could easily be seen as the "winner" in classic debate terms

I was so proud of McClintock! No matter what happens, he's my hero. www.helptom.com

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Here is an interesting comparison - can any FReeper within the wildest stretch of imagination claim that the Gipper was a detail guy? He had broad ideas as to direction, and moved the public there without getting bogged down. Dubya is cut from that cloth as well.

It is a formula that has worked time and again, and these guys are ignoring the writing on the wall - hell, thats even the model for CEO hires in large enterprises.

[John123]

Someone tell me, isn't the Green Party, a communist party?

[Dog Gone]

McClintock did well in the debate. Very few will dispute that.

But this debate was watched by all as a test of Schwarzenegger. That was the main question that viewers wanted answered in last night's debate. And there's little doubt that he passed that test in the mind of most viewers.

Had he failed, McClintock would likely have soared in the polls. Instead, he's probably only going to gain slightly. Even that may be temporary as Schwarzenegger gains more important endorsements.

There's no way now that McClintock passes Arnold before the election, but there's no doubting the fact that he expressed conservative solutions with specificity far better than Arnold did.

[veronica]

BTTT.

[Dog Gone]

Yes.