Cal Voter Conundrum

So if we vote NO on the recall, we get stuck with Gov. Davis. But if we vote YES then we get stuck with somebody from part II of the ballot.

What are our "realistic" choices? Bustamante who is Lt. Gov. of the failed Davis administration or the Arnold whose campaign has been nothing but a punching bag for opponents and the media who would love to take down the big guy and see him go down in flames. The media consciously or unconsciously loves to build people up and then tear them down. The A team can still turn the thing around but they can't keep running the run away from questions campaign. That is like running the prevent defense late in the game hoping to run out the clock. That is assuming you got a huge lead which I don't think is the facts on the ground.

Uberroth of course being the gold medal champion from running the 1984's Olympic games can lay claim to being a can do guy but unfortunately steering the State of California is a bit more than running an Olympic games and besides, 1984 was... 19 years ago. Most people probably are saying, Peter who-ber-roth?

Tom McClintock is certainly one of the more colorful characters running who actually has some experience running a statewide campaign (he barely lost in 2002 for controller) and his fiscal conservatism and social libertarianism sits reasonably well with me. But he is the third place candidate and the presures for him to pull out will keep growing unless the Arnold blows up which is still a possibility.

So vote Bustamante if you want to keep the same fools on the hill that are running Sacramento. Vote Arnold if you want to see a train wreck... if he gets the job, I suspect the media will continue attack him and the legislature will be gridlocked until 2004 when perhaps the incumbants are all voted out. Or vote McClintock and be "right" and lose.

Now that I've cheered up your day, be sure to still go out and vote in October.