Yes, from all that I know of McClintock, he is a genuine statesman. My friends in California, however, old me of how the California GOP tried to run him out of the gubernatorial recall. One talk radio commentator even went so far as to call McClintock a "communist."
It was just the RINOs who had bubbled to the top of the CRP. Tom has a HUGE amount of supporters among the CRP rank and file -- the people who actually do the work (read:conservatives).
My nephew, who is in his late twenties, watched the guber debates during the recall campaigns. He doesn't live in Califronia, but told me that he thought that McClintock was the only one was made any sense.
Well, he did throw in with the democrat's candidate in order to stop the reform movement of Arnold. I wouldn't exactly call him a socialist though. McClintock is simply the most self-serving candidate.