LOS ANGELES, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Tuesday's decision to green light California's October recall election had some of the GOP's bigger names quickly renewing pressure on their dark horse candidate to withdraw from the race rather than risk splitting the vote and handing the election to Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.
Conservative state Senate candidate Tom McClintock was being pressured even harder post-ruling by California Republicans to bow out of the gubernatorial recall race and leave the party united behind stronger contender Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Tom is a man of strong personal convictions ... but it is inconceivable to me that Tom would help lead the recall effort the then take actions personally that would lead to the election of a governor who is even more liberal than the current governor," said State Sen. Jim Brulte, the Republican leader in the state Senate.
Until Tuesday, the pressure on McClintock to drop out of the race was more like a gentle nudge as party leaders and his fellow state lawmakers deferred to his judgment and self-realized obligation to come to the party's aid and hop aboard the Schwarzenegger bandwagon.
The heat was turned up as the 9th Circuit mulled its earlier decision to postpone the election. Now that no more delays are likely, the GOP wants the last couple of weeks in the campaign to be focused squarely on the liberal foibles of Bustamante and Gov. Gray Davis and the positives of Schwarzenegger.
To the Republicans, McClintock's recent baby steps upward in the polls are hardly the surge that would be needed to vault him past both Schwarzenegger and the front-running Bustamante.
"He said he wouldn't be a spoiler and he also said that he could do the math," U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a leader of the recall movement, told CNN Tuesday.
Brulte said on a conference call Tuesday that McClintock's goal of the governor's office was "a bridge too far" this time around and could indeed split the Republican vote enough to put Bustamante in office; the lieutenant governor would then be eligible to run for re-election in 2006 where as Davis' current term would be his last under the state's term limits.
"If Governor Davis is recalled, you have to elect someone who wants to change it for the better, and that's Arnold Schwarzenegger," Brulte maintained.
Even more urgent is Wednesday night's debate in Sacramento. The event is the only one that Schwarzenegger has agreed to take part in -- a debate where the questions have already been handed over to the candidates -- and will put him face to face not only with Bustamante but with acerbic independent Arianna Huffington and the ever pugnacious McClintock.
McClintock has been relentless in criticizing Schwarzenegger's lack of government experience and the validity of his conservative bona fides.
He has also repeatedly called on Schwarzenegger to debate him on the issues rather than limiting his appearances to scheduled campaign rallies and tightly controlled town hall meetings. A ubiquitous feature along the perimeters of Schwarzenegger appearances is a fellow in a bright yellow chicken suit with a sign "Arnold is a Debate Chicken."
McClintock also went so far as to tell the Sacramento Bee's editorial staff Monday that he believed Schwarzenegger would raise taxes once in office despite making lower taxes a primary plank of his platform.
Those possibilities loom large heading into Wednesday night's televised debate, as does the question of whether or not McClintock will aim his barbs at Schwarzenegger as well as the Democrats.
"This isn't a Republican primary," Brulte pointed out. "The common enemy for those who want to change the direction of the state is the Davis-Bustamante leadership in Sacramento. I think it's counterproductive to attack Arnold."
But the way McClintock sees it, Schwarzenegger blew it by placing his campaign in the hands of former Gov. Pete Wilson and his advisers, a gaggle of moderate Republicans he said are without the backbone to face down special interest groups, and McClintock has predicted that a Schwarzenegger administration would go down a path similar to the one Davis and Bustamante are already on.
"I am very concerned that those factors combined will mean a substantial tax increase under a Schwarzenegger administration," McClintock told the Bee.
The Republicans have thus far treated McClintock with kid gloves, largely out of respect to his service to the party and his popularity among conservatives, but that kind of laissez faire approach should make the GOP generals nervous about both the debate and the looming Oct. 7 election. So the big question Wednesday remains to be seen, whether or not McClintock aims his barbs solely at the Democrats or if The Terminator can expect to take some licks as well.
Brulte called himself a friend and comrade of McClintock who would do his best to help get him re-elected to the state Senate even if McClintock torpedoes Schwarzenegger. His pledge was made in a less-than-reassuring tone and conjured up the storm clouds that gathered around the hapless Fredo in "The Godfather" shortly before he took his last ride.
"This isn't a Republican primary," Brulte observed thoughtfully. "If the at the end of the day, as a result of those attacks, Cruz Bustamante is elected governor, there is going to be a lot of explaining to do."
