Arnold’s Conservative Understudy
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger walked into a potential lion’s den over the weekend when he spoke at the California Republican Party convention in San Jose. The typically conservative delegates aren’t fans of his plans to borrow a massive $222 billion for infrastructure projects without first reforming contracting rules that dramatically boost construction costs. His plan to raise California’s minimum wage has also fallen flat with conservatives.
But the Governator nonetheless picked up some ground simply by showing up and making a strong pitch that the party should be united for the fall elections. He reminded delegates that he has held the line on taxes and vetoed many bills passed by the Democratic legislature. His efforts were aided by a new alliance with State Senator Tom McClintock, a hard-shell conservative who ran against him for governor in the 2003 recall election. Now Mr. McClintock is the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, and Mr. Schwarznegger has embraced him as his de facto running-mate.
"Together, they are greater than the sum of their individual political parts," Republican political consultant Dan Schnur told the Contra Costa Times. "Schwarzenegger may not have picked a running mate like he would have in a presidential campaign, but McClintock provides him the same balance that a running mate would."
But not everyone was satisfied with Arnold’s sales pitch. The Young Americans for Freedom passed out fliers showing the governor’s face superimposed on a photo of kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst holding a machine gun. The implication was that Arnold has become a victim of the Stockholm syndrome, adopting liberal positions in much the same way Ms. Hearst embraced the radicalism of her Symbionese Liberation Army kidnappers in the 1970s. The YAFers I spoke with still plan to vote for Mr. Schwarzenegger this fall. But their hearts are with Senator McClintock, whom — if he wins his race for Lt. Governor — would be the frontrunner for California’s top job in 2010 when term limits would ease Mr. Schwarzenegger out of office.
— John Fund