Posted on Sat, Aug. 30, 2003
McClintock refuses to get out of the way
By Mary Anne Ostrom
Mercury News
SAN DIEGO - Tom McClintock has a knack for making people mad.
And that's exactly how many people feel about the Republican state senator from Thousand Oaks who could play spoiler for GOP front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger, should voters oust Gov. Gray Davis on Oct. 7.
``Why don't you just get out?'' a caller identifying herself as Janet bluntly asked McClintock on a San Diego talk-radio show this week. ``You're not a team player.''
``That's really unfair,'' replied McClintock. ``Shouldn't we have the campaign first and let the voters decide? I realize that doesn't sit well in the country-club back rooms of the Republican Party.''
The reasons for wanting McClintock to leave the race boil down to this: With three high-profile Republicans facing Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the only major Democrat in the race, the GOP vote will split, paving the way for a potential Bustamante victory. And McClintock is drawing more support than moderate Republican Peter Ueberroth.
Ross Perot comparison
McClintock is being labeled an underfunded revolutionary, with only a pitchfork facing cannons. And he is being likened to Ross Perot, whose 1992 run for president threw the race to Bill Clinton, many Republicans believe.
``If the pressure is growing, I must be gaining,'' McClintock mused after taking more than two dozen calls from listeners Thursday in three hours without sitting down.
Being a target is nothing new for McClintock, who has roiled the waters of Sacramento politics almost since he joined the Assembly in 1982 at age 26. He has run two failed races for state controller, barely losing last year to former eBay executive Steve Westly.
He is ``the only politician I know who's been cussed out by both Gray Davis and Pete Wilson,'' said Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Temecula, a Sacramento colleague and friend. ``He's the North Star for conservatives, but he's not a great consensus-builder.''
Yet, say supporters, McClintock has done more than just survive. He has often been ahead of the curve. His legislative proposals, including reducing the car tax and implementing spending caps, are now staples of several campaigns in the race to replace Davis, including Arnold Schwarzenegger's.
A large part of the GOP's staunch conservative wing is rallying around him for his rigid anti-tax stances, anti-abortion and anti-gun-control views and his years of railing against Sacramento Republicans and Democrats alike, for overspending. A majority of Assembly Republicans have endorsed Schwarzenegger.
But McClintock's conservative base has helped him cement support from GOP voters who fear Schwarzenegger will raise taxes or who are turned off by the actor's support for abortion rights, gay rights and gun control.
``Arnold Schwarzenegger has the celebrity but no base, Tom McClintock has the base but no celebrity,'' said Sal Russo, a veteran Sacramento GOP consultant who was advising Bill Simon until he dropped from the race.
Influence on race
Few believe McClintock will drop out. It is not his style, say those who know him well. And conservatives say his influence may not be all bad, forcing Schwarzenegger to tilt right and ensuring a big turnout among conservatives who want to dump Davis.
``He's an iconoclast. The ideas to him are more important than getting some Republican elected,'' said conservative Mike Schroeder, former head of the state Republican Party, who also backed Simon.
Quick with the quip and light on campaign cash, McClintock has used talk radio and cable television to get the word out about his run for governor, sometimes making three or four appearances a day. He missed Thursday's state Senate vote approving on sweeping new domestic-partner rights, which he opposes, to do the San Diego radio show. (He said his vote would not have stopped the legislation.)
As guest host of the popular conservative Roger Hedgecock radio show, standing straight as an arrow for three hours, he spun his trademark one-liners and underscored his legendary command of minutiae, at one point citing the price of electricity per kilowatt hour generated at the Castaic dam.
The media appearances are paying off. He hit 12 percent in this week's Los Angeles Times poll among likely voters, compared to Schwarzenegger's 22 percent.
Voter-guide glitch
But McClintock ran into a hitch Friday. His statement of candidacy will not appear in the secretary of state's voter guide because he didn't realize that would happen when he checked a box saying he would not abide by voluntary campaign-spending limits. When he realized the problem, he tried to amend his position, saying he had made a mistake. But on Friday, the state Supreme Court denied his appeal to halt Sunday's voter-guide printing.
Among McClintock's campaign pledges: eliminating the vehicle license fee, renegotiating $42 billion in ``outrageously overpriced'' energy contracts signed by the Davis administration, and replacing California's worker's compensation system with one based on an Arizona model with tougher worker restrictions.
Citing his early calls for a budget spending cap, which Schwarzenegger has also said he supports, McClintock called it ``very flattering'' to see Schwarzenegger coming around to his thinking.
But can he win? ``I've got additional ground to make up. I readily admit I am a dark horse. But then again, so was Seabiscuit,'' McClintock said, referring to the legendary racehorse.
McClintock's glaring handicap is his inability to raise enough money to overcome the big names, say even his friends. He has raised nearly $540,000, much in small donations through his Web site (www.tommcclintock.com). But he's an unabashed supporter of tribal gaming and expects tribes to contribute.
Concluded Haynes: ``Tom is a pitchfork revolutionary. But's he's only got a pitchfork to go up against cannons and machine guns.''
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/recall/6655233.htm
McClintock refuses to get out of the way
By Mary Anne Ostrom
Mercury News
SAN DIEGO - Tom McClintock has a knack for making people mad.
And that's exactly how many people feel about the Republican state senator from Thousand Oaks who could play spoiler for GOP front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger, should voters oust Gov. Gray Davis on Oct. 7.
``Why don't you just get out?'' a caller identifying herself as Janet bluntly asked McClintock on a San Diego talk-radio show this week. ``You're not a team player.''
``That's really unfair,'' replied McClintock. ``Shouldn't we have the campaign first and let the voters decide? I realize that doesn't sit well in the country-club back rooms of the Republican Party.''
The reasons for wanting McClintock to leave the race boil down to this: With three high-profile Republicans facing Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the only major Democrat in the race, the GOP vote will split, paving the way for a potential Bustamante victory. And McClintock is drawing more support than moderate Republican Peter Ueberroth.
Ross Perot comparison
McClintock is being labeled an underfunded revolutionary, with only a pitchfork facing cannons. And he is being likened to Ross Perot, whose 1992 run for president threw the race to Bill Clinton, many Republicans believe.
``If the pressure is growing, I must be gaining,'' McClintock mused after taking more than two dozen calls from listeners Thursday in three hours without sitting down.
Being a target is nothing new for McClintock, who has roiled the waters of Sacramento politics almost since he joined the Assembly in 1982 at age 26. He has run two failed races for state controller, barely losing last year to former eBay executive Steve Westly.
He is ``the only politician I know who's been cussed out by both Gray Davis and Pete Wilson,'' said Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Temecula, a Sacramento colleague and friend. ``He's the North Star for conservatives, but he's not a great consensus-builder.''
Yet, say supporters, McClintock has done more than just survive. He has often been ahead of the curve. His legislative proposals, including reducing the car tax and implementing spending caps, are now staples of several campaigns in the race to replace Davis, including Arnold Schwarzenegger's.
A large part of the GOP's staunch conservative wing is rallying around him for his rigid anti-tax stances, anti-abortion and anti-gun-control views and his years of railing against Sacramento Republicans and Democrats alike, for overspending. A majority of Assembly Republicans have endorsed Schwarzenegger.
But McClintock's conservative base has helped him cement support from GOP voters who fear Schwarzenegger will raise taxes or who are turned off by the actor's support for abortion rights, gay rights and gun control.
``Arnold Schwarzenegger has the celebrity but no base, Tom McClintock has the base but no celebrity,'' said Sal Russo, a veteran Sacramento GOP consultant who was advising Bill Simon until he dropped from the race.
Influence on race
Few believe McClintock will drop out. It is not his style, say those who know him well. And conservatives say his influence may not be all bad, forcing Schwarzenegger to tilt right and ensuring a big turnout among conservatives who want to dump Davis.
``He's an iconoclast. The ideas to him are more important than getting some Republican elected,'' said conservative Mike Schroeder, former head of the state Republican Party, who also backed Simon.
Quick with the quip and light on campaign cash, McClintock has used talk radio and cable television to get the word out about his run for governor, sometimes making three or four appearances a day. He missed Thursday's state Senate vote approving on sweeping new domestic-partner rights, which he opposes, to do the San Diego radio show. (He said his vote would not have stopped the legislation.)
As guest host of the popular conservative Roger Hedgecock radio show, standing straight as an arrow for three hours, he spun his trademark one-liners and underscored his legendary command of minutiae, at one point citing the price of electricity per kilowatt hour generated at the Castaic dam.
The media appearances are paying off. He hit 12 percent in this week's Los Angeles Times poll among likely voters, compared to Schwarzenegger's 22 percent.
Voter-guide glitch
But McClintock ran into a hitch Friday. His statement of candidacy will not appear in the secretary of state's voter guide because he didn't realize that would happen when he checked a box saying he would not abide by voluntary campaign-spending limits. When he realized the problem, he tried to amend his position, saying he had made a mistake. But on Friday, the state Supreme Court denied his appeal to halt Sunday's voter-guide printing.
Among McClintock's campaign pledges: eliminating the vehicle license fee, renegotiating $42 billion in ``outrageously overpriced'' energy contracts signed by the Davis administration, and replacing California's worker's compensation system with one based on an Arizona model with tougher worker restrictions.
Citing his early calls for a budget spending cap, which Schwarzenegger has also said he supports, McClintock called it ``very flattering'' to see Schwarzenegger coming around to his thinking.
But can he win? ``I've got additional ground to make up. I readily admit I am a dark horse. But then again, so was Seabiscuit,'' McClintock said, referring to the legendary racehorse.
McClintock's glaring handicap is his inability to raise enough money to overcome the big names, say even his friends. He has raised nearly $540,000, much in small donations through his Web site (www.tommcclintock.com). But he's an unabashed supporter of tribal gaming and expects tribes to contribute.
Concluded Haynes: ``Tom is a pitchfork revolutionary. But's he's only got a pitchfork to go up against cannons and machine guns.''
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/recall/6655233.htm
